


From The Ashes The Hunters Rise

by white_tiger



Series: Shepard twins: the story of Odysseus and Eris Shepard, the shadows of the alliance [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:28:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 57,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7737919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_tiger/pseuds/white_tiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Odysseus and Eris have been dead for two years, now they are back from the void and on the hunt again for even bigger prey this time.<br/>With their loves by their sides, they will gather new allies. Some come from the Twins's dark past hidden in darkness deep, rivals and enemies who in the past wanted them dead or gone now must fight side by side, they will also find allies in new people from unexpected place. how will the hunter twins fare against this new prey, after two years dead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the hunters rise once more

**Author's Note:**

> I also have a paetron account under this name, any support is welcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to my beta reader Aquila for editing my formatting problems, chapter 14 is currently unedited but that is my fault.

CHAPTER 1 – The Hunters Rise Again

Miranda Lawson ran as fast as she could through the station. She had to reach the Comm room and wake Project Lazarus and she had to do it now. The Project was nearly a week away from completion but, as luck would have, the only task left was purely cosmetics and final health checks. Coming around the next bend, she barely dodged a shot for a nearby LOKI Mech. Whipping around she used Pull to lift the Mech before firing into the core until it exploded, raining sparks and debris into the air as Miranda dashed into the nearby Comm room.

“Shepard! You need to wake up! Now!” she yelled into the microphone. To her relief she heard the near simultaneous groans of the infamous Shepard Twins, both male and female. 

{What the hell…} groaned Odysseus ‘Demo’ Shepard.

‘Khelish? I know they both speak it regularly but this is ridiculous. Shouldn’t they reach for their native tongue first?’ Miranda thought, swiftly brought back to the task at hand by the sound of gunshots in the halls. “You need to wake up immediately! The station is under attack. There is armour and weapons in the lockers by your beds. Get up! Hurry!” she shouted frantically in an attempt to get the twins moving faster.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris Shepard groaned as a panicked voice called out over the Comm system. Finding the armour, Eris and Demo dressed quickly, automatically falling straight back into their old combat routine despite the old, aching feeling in throughout their bodies.  
{What the fuck?! No clips makes these as good as toys lady!} barked Demo in frustration.

“Well, it IS a med bay, I know you’ve been dead for two years but surely you’d recognise one,” replied the voice, sarcasm dripping from its tone as Eris rolled her eyes, overlooking the whole “dead for two years thing” for now. A set of explosive canisters by the door quickly drew her gaze, however, and Eris called her brother into cover before firing on them.

{Well… I suppose that’s one way to open a door} joked Demo before Eris clipped him lightly.

{Come on, let’s get the hell off this base and find out what the fuck is going on and why the fuck we’ve supposedly been dead for two fucking years!} raged Eris. A short glance at their Omni-tools had told them the date ad their grey boxes had confirmed their deaths and the subsequent beginning of their organic memory pathways’ decay. Needless to say, Eris was rather pissed.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

Demo was really hating this first day of consciousness. First he woke to some pretentious sounding woman ordering them to find armour. Armour which ended up only being the standard N7 classless model and made him feel blind and deaf. Then they only had pistols and crappy Omni-tools with only enough power to support an Overload and a practically useless battery-eating cloak.

{If I find the guy who put this shit equipment into a locker for us, I’m going to make him eat my boot!} he growled, grunting as bullets flew through the air, receiving a quiet agreement from Eris.  
{Use your drone!} Eris called after a few minutes.

{No drone tech!}

{Who the fuck gives you a tool without Gizmo?!}

{Don’t know but he eats boots too!} barked Demo, finally dropping the last Mech in sight with a bullet through the optics. The twins may not have been experts with every weapon in existence but they were certainly at least decent with all of them.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Jacob Taylor’s day had started out so well too. He was just watching his favourite movie again, when suddenly the Mechs went mad all over the station and began attacking everyone on sight. His tried to find Miri but had become pinned by the Mech’s surrounding the bridge. The door leading to the labs slid open and two demons in sparkling new N7 armour quickly laid waste to the Mechs with a pair of grenade launchers. “The twins?” Jacob asked rhetorically as he sauntered toward the pair. “Damn, things must be bad if-” he started before a pair of pistols were trained on him.

{We have been awake for all of twenty damn minutes. We haven’t eaten in two years. The next words out of your mouth had better be a run-down of what in the ancestor’s names is going on right now or so help me you will be down before you can scream!} Eris growled. Both twins were far from morning people and without time to wake they tended to hit whoever and whatever upset them.  
Needless to say Jacob complied. The day had started so well too.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Miranda raced to the shuttle bay, trying to beat the twins there. If they got on board with Wilson, they’d be as good as dead…again. ‘I did not give two years of my life bringing them back for them to die again!” thought Miranda, arriving at the doors just as Wilson came through. He froze, “Miranda, but you’re supposed to be-.” 

He was cut off as his chest was filled with bullets, courtesy of Miranda and the twins. “Miri, what the hell?” Jacob cried. 

Before she could respond, Demo broke in: {This bastard had killed the other guy we found him with, his wound didn’t match his story AND his Omni-tool had a hacking program written specifically for the station.}  
Miranda was impressed with the ruthless assessment and take-down. “Come on. We should leave before any more Mechs turn up. Our boss wants to talk to you,” she said as she led to twins to a nearby shuttle. 

{You mean the Illusive Man, right?} asked Eris. 

Miranda scowled at Jacob, “You couldn’t keep quiet, could you?” 

“Lying to them won’t gain their trust and you know we need that Miri,” Jacob replied defensively.

{How about we get on the ship?} Demo asked sarcastically, {And you,} he continued pointing at Miranda, {We just wanted to make sure we were talking to T.I.M and not some piss-ant laddie who knows nothing.} Odysseus climbed up into the shuttle, leaving Miranda shocked at how accepting the twins were of their boss. She quickly climbed in, setting the autopilot for the back-up station.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After speaking with T.I.M, the twins moved over to Miranda. “Captain, Commander, Should we get going?” she asked when they grew close. 

“Not yet. First we’re going to need proper weapons and gear along with armour,” replied Eris. 

Miranda smiled. In their profile it stated that twins used nothing but custom arms. “Of course,” said Miranda, “we compiled the best and latest gear, based on what you carried two years ago, naturally. It’s just through there,” she finished as she indicated a door. She was quite proud of her selection and scowled as the twins moved away, shaking their heads in disappointment. As their heads moved their pure white hair and cat-like purple eyes seemed to catch the light in the station, making Miranda uncomfortable with their alien appearance and the glowing cybernetic scars.

“Great. Top of the line she says. It’s still going to be at least three years behind what we had,” grumbled Demo. 

Eris sighed at her brother, “Relax. It should only be a year. We were dead for two, after all.” 

“Not helping. I just hope they have a copy of Gizmo,” Demo said quietly as they entered the room. Behind them, Miranda was still scowling. The tech team had told her that whenever they tried to copy any of the suit tech or programming, written in the quarian programming tongue, it crashed any system they attempted to use it in. Thus far, there had been no progress for the tech teams.


	2. the first steps

CHAPTER 2 – Finding the Thief’s Heart

Tali’Zorah nar Rayya was going over the mission statement one last time as she waited for Lee to land the shuttle in Freedom’s Progress. This was her first mission with this squad; Lee and Tali had been put in charge as it was probable that a gentler hand was needed with the quarian they were looking for, Veetor. The former leader was still trying, unsuccessfully, to override their commands as if they were simple recruits. After seeing Veetor fleeing to the back of the colony, Lee landed the shuttle and the team moved out. Prazza, the former leader, kept trying to rush the squad ahead to grab Veetor before the any humans could arrive to disturb the mission. They stopped in one of the main buildings to plan their next move when to doors opened and Tali’s world stopped. {Demo!} she whispered when the four humans walked in.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Demo and Eris were in with the pair from the station. “Remember that our first priority is recon. We want to know exactly what happened her, so keep an eye out for anything unusual,” Odysseus ordered and the team nodded. When the shuttle landed, the twins raced into cover, the pair of Cerberus agents following shortly. Eris and Demo sent out a special ping designed to locate the tech caches they had planted several years ago.

{What? Eris are you reading this?} Demo asked, shocked at the incoming readings. 

“Someone is here with our tech,” explained Eris to a confused Miranda and Jacob. 

Almost as shocked as the twins, Jacob asked “How do you know it’s not three caches?”   
“We only planted two and one of them is too far away to be anything other than a person,” replied Demo, “but we’ll know more when we retrieve it.”  
Demo moved over to an old looking panel, swiping his Omni-tool over the top to release the catches and open the first tech cache. The twins quickly stripped to their under armour before redressing in their personal quarian-style armour including their famous masks; masks which had once struck fear into the hearts of slavers and now would again.

The quartet moved out, Demo leading the way with Eris right behind, and soon came upon a group of hostile Mechs. “Down!” called Demo as the Mechs started firing and the group rolled into cover. “Jacob, pull on the LOKI Mechs over there. Eris, singularity for the flanking pair followed by warp from Miranda.” Odysseus barked orders as he fired on the approaching FENRIS Mech using his newly restored Omni-Bow before using his Omni-Knuckles to finish it off. 

After the skirmish was over, Demo attempted to scan the hard drives to find out why the Mechs were hostile with no success. The circuits were fried. The four moved on, encountering several more waves of Mechs before coming to the door where the locator ping had indicated the twins’ tech. Cracking the door, a group of quarians snapped their guns up to aim at the group and the Cerberus agents started to retaliate until Eris and Odysseus stopped them.

{Demo…} came a small voice. Demo whipped around so fast that Miranda thought he might get whiplash. 

{Tali? My heart, is that you?} asked Demo desperately, even as his mask confirmed the answer, identifying the suit hardware upgrades he had made for her. 

{Demo!} Tali cried louder, launching herself into his arms, her whole body shaking as Demo could only cling to her with a passion which left everyone but Lee and Eris surprised. 

{Bullshit, Tali. Why would he be working for Cerberus?} Prazza demanded, holstering his weapon anyway due to his unwillingness to fire upon a legend of his people. 

{I don’t know. Why don’t we ask him?} Tali replied when she gained control and slipped out of Demo’s arms, staying close enough to reach despite that. 

{My heart, I died. Cerberus brought Eris and I back to investigate the missing human colonies} he explained gently before offering to work together. 

{Why would we work with an organisation that attacked the fleet?} snapped Prazza before Tali could reply. 

Before she could tell him off Miranda responded with, “Not how I would put it.”

Before anyone could think to stop them, the pair of quarian-styled humans had pinned the Cerberus agents to the ground with Omni-blades to their throats. {Is this true?} growled Demo from where he knelt on Miranda’s back. 

“They were harbouring a criminal!” 

{That does not mean that you can blow up one of our ships} yelled Tali, finally losing her temper with the woman in the skin tight suit and causing the biotic field around the twins to turn from space cold to raging fire and the quarians to step back in fear. 

{You destroyed a ship?} demanded Eris in a cold, deadly voice pressing her blade closer to Jacob’s neck. 

“We didn’t have anything to do with that!” said Miranda hurriedly, realising how close to death her and Jacob were. 

{Have you ever harmed the quarian people in any way?} 

“NO, never, I swear!” the Cerberus agents replied, the truth of their words confirmed on the twins’ masks. After a few more tense moments the group agreed to work together, by splitting up and moving towards the target, Veetor.


	3. the hunt begins

CHAPTER 3 – The Hunt Begins

{Demo! Prazza ran ahead! He wants Veetor before you can get to him} Tali called over the Comms as she and Lee ran after the newly insubordinate bosh’tet. 

{Understood. We are on route. Keep him alive though, I’ve got a bad feeling about this} replied Odysseus, speeding up his approach in response.

{I see what you meant. His voice is pretty sexy} Lee commented. 

{Not the time!} she snapped back at Lee, blushing and almost tripping. Bolting around the corner, Tali and Lee froze as they witnessed a large heavy Mech ripping apart Prazza’s squad. {Demo, we’ve got a heavy Mech up ahead. Veetor reprogrammed it and it’s ripping Prazza’s team to shreds}. 

Tali ducked into Lee’s cover as Eris’ voice came over the Comm, {Hold tight. We’re almost there. Get ready to open the doors through to Veetor}. 

{Why would she respond instead of-oh} Lee cut himself off as a loud explosion echoed through the courtyard. 

{That would be my bosh’tet. Loves making things explode} Tali grumbled as they moved again, narrowly avoiding missile fire  
.   
{In position. Open the doors but stay low while you grab your squad mates} Demo said quietly.

When the door opened the twins moved cloaked on silent feet through the doors as the Cerberus pair moved behind them drawing the attention of the heavy mech. Eris and Demo moved to flank the Mech, ordering three overloads to hit it at once. The Mech slumped briefly as its shield were shredded, only to be slammed with a shot from Eris’s widow rifle and another from Demo’s high powered viper. “Pull now!” He ordered as the armour finally dropped away. The moment the giant became trapped in the lift field Eris slammed it with a singularity as Demo threw a warp. The resulting biotic explosion tore the heavy Mech to shrapnel.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

While Tali dealt with the insubordinate fools for nearly getting themselves killed, Demo moved to question Veetor. After discovering what had happened in the colony, Miranda was vying for support in taking Veetor for Cerberus to interrogate.

{Are you kidding me?! Veetor needs medical help not an interrogation!} Tali objected.

“Why should we trust you? Your people betrayed the mission and almost got themselves killed,” replied Miranda viciously.

{Miranda, shut up and stand down} barked Demo, his voice cold as ice.

{Cerberus attacked them. Do you really expect them to trust us? Veetor goes back to the fleet, end of discussion} finished Eris, promptly reminding Miranda of exactly how close the twins had already come to killing her and forcing her to back down.

{My heart,} started Demo softly, almost whispering as he rested his masked face on her helmeted head, {will you come with us? We desperately need someone we can trust.}

{I wish I could Demo but I have to-} Tali was cut off but Lee.

{Keelah! Tali, just go. I’ll take care of it. The board should give you an allowance, anyway, especially after letting us out of these suits.} Lee came up and grabbed Tali, pulling her into a tight hug.

{Thank you so much Lee} Tali replied before leaving with the Cerberus agents and the twins, still holding Demo’s hand tightly.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

{JOKER?} came Eris’ squeal as she grabbed the pilot in a hug, being careful not to squeeze too hard.

“Easy Shadow. It’s so good to see you again,” Joker croaked out, sounding on the verge tears at the sight of his best friends alive and well. For the last two years, Joker had been allowed to wallow in his guilt over their deaths after the alliance had grounded him and the Normandy.

{Come on, let’s get Tali and check out the new ship} said Odysseus, leading the group back to where Tali was waiting. The new ship, the Normandy SR2, was nearly twice the size of the previous and Demo was like a kid in a candy store as he looked over the specs on his Omni-tool. {Anigeal, my shower has a decontamination feature!}

{Anigeal?} asked Tali, confused over the term her translator didn't catch.

{It means Angel in Irish,} replied Eris. Tali blushed lightly at the new name.

“Captain, if you could stop going through the logs for a moment; we need to plan our next move,” Miranda interrupted, feeling confused about the twins’ lack of professionalism away from the field.

“Right, well, Eris and I read through the files and we’ve decided to recruit the turian first. We believe that he’s the most likely to die if we wait,” replied Odysseus without looking up and Miranda paused.

“But I haven’t seen you use any data pads yet?” she asked curiously.

 

“They read on their masks,” answered Tali, still annoyed at the bosh’tet in the skin suit acting like she knew the twins.

“Joker, full speed ahead. We have criminals to upset,” Demo called to a laughing Joker as he moved off to the Cockpit. Next stop, Omega.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins made their way through the ship, stopping to talk with the yeoman, Kelly Chambers, before entering the elevator with Tali. {Was it just me or did she just hit on all three of us at once?} asked Eris, confused at the strange yeoman’s ‘selection.’   
{It’s not just you, trust me. She reminded me of mom’s old varren. You know, the one that was your best friend forever if you had treats} Odysseus joked. Tali laughed, feeling truly happy for the first time in years with her love beside her again. The twins exited the elevator with Tali on the engineering deck. Looking out through the window over the cargo bay, the twins were confused. {How did they find our old ships?} Odysseus asked and Tali saw the Mantis that Demo had tried to load onto the first Normandy on her first day alongside a corvette with Eris’ favourite paint job.

“The Cerberus crew purchased the ships from your adoptive parents in preparation for your arrival on board,” replied EDI, the Normandy’s AI. All three suited beings scowled at the sound of its voice. The twins had no love for AIs after being raised by quarians. Moving through to the engine room, the trio greeted the new crew.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Gabby was excited to be working on a ship this advanced and hoped that the Captain and Commander could appreciate how amazing the new ship truly was. Gabby and Kenneth turned as the doors behind them opened to reveal a stunning sight; two humans dressed in quarian Exo-Suits followed by a small, excited looking quarian woman. The large male wore a purple based suit with crimson sashes wrapping around his body, to achieve the look of a hooded shirt and tight shorts, with black stitching and black bandoliers and belts strapped across his torso. Two of said bandoliers crossed his chest in an X shape whilst a number of half belts with large pouches hung around his hips like holsters with a large shotgun attached to his back, turning him into a truly intimidating figure. The human woman stood at only five foot five, if Gabby had to guess, but managed to be just as terrifying as her brother. Her suit was based in royal blue with emerald sashes and silver stitching arranged to give the illusion of a tight hooded dress ending in a short mid-thigh skirt. She had no bands across her chest but just as many, if not more belts with a short, collapsible molecule sword and an SMG strapped to her left hip. Recovering from their shock, the two human engineers, Kenneth and Gabby snapped a salute at the pair who could only be their new Captain and Commander.

The human male laughed. “At ease. We’re just touring the ship and thought we’d stop by and introduce your new boss,” said the Captain cheerfully, indicating the young quarian. 

Kenneth and Gabby shared a sceptical look. They hadn’t heard about a new boss. ‘I just hope they know one end of a ratchet from the other,’ thought Gabby, used to dealing with bosses who didn’t actually know anything about engineering.   
The Commander continued, “This is Tali’Zorah. When not on ground missions with Demo and I, she will be in charge of the engine. She was second in command down here aboard the first Normandy and as Odysseus’ fiancé you will be sure to treat her with respect.”

Gabby was floored as she looked at the young quarian. “Well then… Welcome aboard Chief!” joked Kenneth and Gabby paled. She had heard that twins were hard and cold in their everyday life.

“Kenneth,” hissed Gabby, “you’re talking to our bosses! Show some damn respect!”

“Relax lassie. We don’t tend to stand on ceremony or rank. Just make sure the job is done well before you start joking, alright? So, is there anything you need down here? We’re hitting Omega soon so we can pick up any requisitions,” interrupted Odysseus. Gabby started explaining the need for new coupling when Kenneth interrupted, talking tech.

“Kenneth, you’re gonna bore the Captain.”

“Not really,” replied Odysseus, gesturing at Kenneth’s panel, “but what if you bypassed this system through here and rid the need for couplings altogether?” Gabby was amazed at the man’s speed as the Captain demonstrated, solving a problem that had been plaguing them since take off.

“Damn, sir, that was something else!” said Kenneth and Gabby agreed. The twins left, Tali saying that she’d be back tomorrow to help with shakedown work.


	4. the demons return to the pit of the sinners and damned

CHAPTER 4 – Welcome to Omega

Kelly Chambers headed out of the crew quarters on her way to the mess hall for breakfast just in time to see the twins sit with Tali’Zorah at a far table. Turning back from the bench, she saw something which made her freeze. Tali had reached up to her mask and pulled it off as the twins did the same to the bottom half of theirs. Shocked that the quarian could take off her mask, Kelly moved over and asked to join them. “Tali, I thought your people’s immune system meant that you couldn’t remove your masks or suits?” Kelly asked as she sat down, causing the young woman to look up.

Tali’s voice and eyes were full of love and admiration as she replied, gazing at the twins. “Four years ago you would’ve been right. But when I was on the first Normandy, Demo and Eris made a set of programs and hardware upgrades to work with our suits and boost our immune systems. We still need the suits in places we aren’t used to but I had EDI set the ship filters to mimic the program that the twins made. I can have my mask off most of the time and sleep without the suit in a cleaned room with basically no ill effect,” she explained and Kelly looked at the twins in amazement.

“She makes it sound like I whipped it up entirely during the trip but it really took over a decade of preparation and a chunk of alien bio-samples collected on a mission,” Odysseus said without looking up. 

Kelly tried chatting with them a bit more but the moment they had finished eating the trio moved out to prepare for the upcoming mission. She left shortly after, astounded by how lacking the Illusive Man’s profile had been. According to them, the twins Alliance files had been mostly redacted or their missions just weren’t recorded due to the kind of work they did. Kelly was left in a bit of a bind as she had been asked to get closed to them and try to make them see that Cerberus was not all bad. However, after what Miranda had reported of her first mission with them, that was going to be almost impossible. The incident Miranda had reported, of the twins almost killing Jacob and herself over the bombing of the quarian fleet would undoubtedly become the largest hurdle and make or break a trust relationship. From what Kelly knew now, it may not be possible to forgive, let alone forget.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As the ground team watched Aria’s messenger turn and run in fear after delivering his message, Jacob turned to the twins, confused. “What did you guys do here? That guy was nearly pissing himself,” he asked, impressed. 

“We went on a killing spree when we were hunting a slaver who had fled the blitz. Ended up taking out no less than six slaver dens and killing everyone in them except the slaves,” replied Odysseus in a bored voice as they moved on. Jacob’s admiration morphed into fear as he listened to the Captain calmly describe a killing spree as they approached a nearby confrontation between two men. 

“Zaeed, if you keep hitting him like that he’ll die. Unless you’ve changed a lot while we’ve been busy being dead, that’s not your style,” interrupted Eris as she indicated the bleeding man on the floor.

“Goddamn. They weren’t lying, you two really are alive. Have you brats called your folks yet?”

“Not yet. We need to pick up some parts for a secure Comm line while we’re here,” Demo answered while the rest of the ground team minus Tali and Eris looked on in confusion. 

“Captain, do you know each other?”

“You’re goddamn right he knows me. I helped train these two brats and I’m assuming you’d like me to come along now,” Zaeed growled at the Cerberus agents while the twins laughed and nodded. Tali, having been told about Zaeed who was similar to an uncle to the twins. 

“Meet us outside Afterlife after you drop off your things at the ship,” ordered Odysseus before the team moved off to meet Omega’s ‘Queen.’

“Think she remembers us?” asked Eris quietly as they headed into the club. Demo glanced at his twin through his 360 degree suit cams. The twins had switched out into their N7 style armour suits which were modded with cloaks and suit cams, leaving their original helmets. Demo was wearing his Demolisher armour while Eris wore her Shadow armour. Over the missing years, the armour had improved to the point where it was more effective to mod it then wear their Exo-suits.

“Probably. We did tend to leave a lot of dead bodies behind whenever we visited,” said Demo, leaving the others in the group wondering just how many times the pair had been to Omega and how many people had died each time. The group reached the base of the stairs and started their ascent towards Aria.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Aria T’Loak knew the moment the twins walked into her club. The sound of some pussy screaming and fainting at the sight of the two masked demons who had brought such terror for the masses was a dead giveaway. She watched the twins start up the stairs and knew at once they were really back from the grave. No one, and she meant no one, walked with the gait that screamed that they were death on two legs with an aura of pure darkness like these two. She signalled the guard to let the twins straight through and took a seat as she had no desire to watch her guard captain sail over the edge of her platform. Turning to the twins, she asked, “What brings you two back here? It’s not the girls; you don’t swing for them too often.” Aria really hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t impact her business like last time. Losing so many men was really bad for profits.

“There’s a pair of aliens we’re looking to recruit. Mordin Solus and Archangel; where can we find them,” asked Demo. His burring voice took Aria back to a fling she’d had with the twins back when they’d wanted info in the past. Knowing that they could probably deal with the problems she was having, namely the plague and Archangel’s interference, Aria indicated their whereabouts. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Wrong door honey. Stripper’s rooms are on the other side of the club,” called out the turian recruiter as the group entered the merc’s recruiting station. Eris walked up, swinging her hips sexily in time with the music and casually reaching up to stroke the turian’s face, hitting a sweet spot under his chin. When he started to purr quietly she pressed the tip of her sword to the sensitive plateless skin. 

“Call me honey again,” whispered Eris sweetly, her face pressed against the turian’s and her lips near his earholes, “and I will carve every single one of your plates from your skin one by one.” She stepped back, leaving the turian, who had finally recognised the twins, close to fainting. 

He quickly signed up the group and Zaeed, apologising profusely and obviously hoping that the twins would just leave. After stopping a kid from signing up and getting himself killed, they grabbed Zaeed and headed out to the merc base.

The twins wandered the base, sabotaging as much as they could while robbing everyone blind. The group followed the twin’s as they found blackmail items and reprogrammed any Mechs they came across. The group watched as, after killing the ship’s engineer, Demo started working on the ship’s engine. “Commander, what is the Captain doing?” asked Miranda as Odysseus grabbed something that looked a lot like a bomb and placed it in the engine. 

“Probably finding a way to make it explode. It’s what he does,” replied Eris matter-of-factly as Tali nodded before joining Demo. After they finished working they moved to the wall dividing the base from the bridge to Archangel’s hideout. 

“What did you do to the gunship?” asked Jacob.

His response came in the form of a cryptic but cheerful, “You’ll see.”


	5. Come back to my side my sweet fang

CHAPTER 5 – Come Home to My Side, Sweet Fang

Garrus Vakarian knew that he was about to die. After spending the last year cleaning up this pisshole known as Omega, now he was going to die trapped like a rat with mercs descending on his position. He had been proud of the team he’d built; just like Eris and her brother and now a spirits-damned traitor had left his team downstairs, dead and buried. Still, he would be damned if he gave them an easy fight. Days ago, Garrus had gained the upper hand in terms of position but he was tiring and knew that time was running out and his stims were losing effectiveness. All he could do was breathe and shoot, keeping that single pistol shot for the last possible second.

Garrus groaned as he saw a new wave of freelancers coming across the bridge. This was the last wave he could possible fight off alone. He pulled off another headshot and another merc dropped to the ground. As he was picking his next target, Garrus saw someone he’d only imagined in the corner of his eye for the last two years. ‘Eris is here,’ thought Garrus, ‘Damn, I must be close now.’ When Garrus was young, his father used to tell him stories of vengeful spirits who came to collect those who had caused their deaths. Seeing Tali alongside the twins, Garrus believed that she had died from her grief and blamed him as he had blamed himself for not being there. ‘Take me to your side, Cor. I’m so sorry’ he prayed as he watched her advance before they pulled out their weapons and began to kill all the mercs before advancing on Garrus’ position. ‘Guess everyone dies. I hope that you are the one to kill me, Eris. Spirits know I have failed you the most,’ he thought bitterly as he fired more rounds into the approaching mercs, still determined to take out as many as he could. 

He heard the sounds of fighting on the floor below but left it to the spirits. ‘Who can beat the vengeful dead?’ Garrus asked himself. He heard footsteps behind him but gestured for the spirits to wait a moment as he finished clearing the bridge. After ending the last merc, he turned, laying down his rifle and facing the spirits he believed had come to collect him.

“Archangel?” asked Odysseus and Garrus paused, not expecting this. He removed his helmet and dropped it to the floor only to be tackled to the floor by a blue, shrieking masked blur which proceeded to straddle his hips and smile down at him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris couldn’t believe her eyes as Archangel removed his helmet to confirm what her and Demo’s suspicion. With a small shriek of glee, she tackled her sweet fang and rolled him off the couch to straddle his hips. Eris tore off her mask only to seize Garrus in a kiss burning the full two years’ worth of passion and desire. Garrus, for his part, only stalled, slightly stunned, for a moment before joining in with just as much force, a growl building in his chest and a growing realisation that Eris was real.  


“Not that this isn’t sweet and, you know, mentally scarring and all but how about we focus on getting out of here alive instead of having one last fuck in front of your brother? Just a thought, Eris,” Demo called sarcastically even as he felt Tali up from where he had trapped her in his arms after grabbing her out of excitement. Tali smiled and blushed under her mask as she slapped his hands away and stepped back.

“Sorry!” said a blushing Eris as she placed her mask back on and helped Garrus up.

“Not that I’m not relieved and everything but you’re not dead?” asked Garrus, confused and hurt at the idea that the twins had faked their deaths and not told him.

“Oh no, it’s not what you think. We’ve been dead for nearly two year but Cerberus recovered our bodies and brought us back to hunt the collectors who they think are working for the reapers,” replied a very chipper Eris as she latched onto Garrus with absolutely no intention of letting go. Garrus was amazed but believed that if Eris was back it didn’t matter who she worked for or who she was hunting. He was not going to leave her side again. That was the oath he swore to himself as the group planned their next move, the twins never breaking contact with their respective mates.

It was decided that Eris and Zaeed would remain to guard and assist Garrus while the rest of the team moved back downstairs to fight off the Blood Pack who were breaking through the and storming the front. 

“Crap, we’ve got incoming Mechs and Heavy Mechs!” called Garrus before hearing a sound which soothed his soul like no other.  


Eris laughed before calling back, “Just wait. Demo and rigged them to turn on the merc!” Just as she finished speaking they heard the Mechs turn on their masters, killing dozens in a matter of seconds.

{Who in the ancestor’s names gave a vorcha a flamethrower?!} Demo growled as he launched a pyrotechnic attack at said vorcha causing it to explode as the team moved forward and closed the last shutter.

As it slammed closed Eris came over the Comms, “Demo, get your ass up here! The Blue Suns gunship is preparing to fire and Blood Pack at the doors!”

“Hold tight and get to cover. The second the gunship tried to fire it will overheat and explode,” Demo replied as the team ran through the basement and started firing on the Blood Pack at the door.

Demo and Eris soon reminded the mercenaries why they were known as the Devils of Omega, as Demo wrapped himself in biotics and tech, charging into the fray armed with his Omni-Knuckles on each hand and Eris, surrounded by her biotic power, quickly dealt with the small group at the top of stairs before leaping over the railing onto the Blood Pack leader’s back. As she landed she drove her sword through the krogan’s skull plate, rotating the blade and effectively turning his grey matter into mush with the vibrating edge of her sword. When both of his knuckles had exploded, Demo switched to an Omni-Bow in his right hand and a shotgun in his left. Dual wielding, he laid waste to the heavy weapons mercs while the rest of his team dealt with the remainder. Tali stuck close to his side, watching his back and surrounded by her tech armour with a small Omni-Shield in her left hand and her favourite shotgun in her right.

As the last merc fell, two perpendicular explosions rocked the building before Zaeed called down the Comm line, reporting that Garrus was down and seriously injured. Eris pushed her self biotically and jumped straight over the railing onto the second floor and sprinted to Garrus’ side as Odysseus shouted orders to the Normandy. Eris and Tali worked to slow down blood loss until the Normandy’s shuttle arrived. Eris, the team’s primary medical officer spouted off orders before the twins and Tali were in the air and headed back to the Normandy to get Garrus stabilised while the rest of the ground team headed back on foot.

Doctor Karin Chakwas was waiting for them in the Med Bay. As she started work on cleaning Garrus’ wounds, the twins ran a decontamination program over their suits before stepping into the surgery area. Normally, Karin would never let anyone without a doctorate in some kind of biology into her surgery room unless they were the one on the table. However, Demo was a special case. It was rapidly apparent that Garrus was going to need cybernetic implants, an area in which Demo was the resident expert. Eris was brought in as, whilst she was generally a field medic, she had several degrees in xenobiology including several specialising in turians.

It was long and hard but with the trio working non-stop it would only take a few days until Garrus was fully recovered. Odysseus stumbled out of the Med Bay, dead on his feet, and ordered food to be brought in for Eris who had refused to leave Garrus’ side until he woke. After eating, he headed up to his cabin to decontaminate and laid down in bed, wrapping himself around a sleeping nightie-clad Tali before succumbing himself.

Meanwhile, Eris laid downstairs, curled up against the uninjured side of her sweet fang, sleeping comfortably for the first time since her re-awakening. She was over the moon that Garrus was back at her side and seemed just as eager to pick up their relationship. At the same time, however, Eris wondered why Garrus had been on Omega in the first place and how he had managed to vanish so completely. That night her dreams were full of all of all their nights together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments welcomed and encourage mainly so i know how people want the story to go and what you like or dislike.  
> One shot ideas for this story line also welcome, any suggestions welcome and i will try my best to provide.


	6. Into the shadows of the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aingeal means angel in Irish  
> Cori means heart in Irish

CHAPTER 6 – Into the Shadows of the Past

Eris was waiting for the day Garrus was cleared before the group headed out to get Doctor Solus, eager as she was to have the twins’ favourite sniper at their backs. Incidentally, this was why Demo was sat in his cabin, fiddling with visors that he and Eris had ordered from a Quarian they had found on the station (when they got the parts, they had given the terrified Quarian a bonus large enough to get himself off Omega). When Demo had finally finished the visors, they looked almost identical to the ones lost due to their deaths minus the Quarian script on both sides of each reading ‘I Hunt Only for My Heart.’ Demo smiled.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris looked up from where she was reading the main battery as Garrus worked on the gun to see Demo entering carrying a small black box, noticing with some excitement that he was wearing his new purple visor, decorated with the agreed script in crimson.

{Here’s your visor. Same colour as your boyfriend and everything,} he snarked as Eris removed her mask and took the box from his hands. As she took off her mask, Garrus turned to watch. Garrus would deny it to everyone but Tali and the twins but his favourite of Eris’ features was her stark white hair braided from her crown to her mid-back and wrapping around her shoulders. His real favourite was undoubtedly her bright purple eyes, glowing in even the darkest light. Watching her slip the visor on and seeing it come to life over her eyes, the silver script gleaming above the visor’s interface made it real for him; she was back and he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything take her from him ever again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tali was working in the engine bay when she heard the doors whoosh. Turning she saw Demo wearing a new visor, similar to the one she had made for him with fine crimson script. The word heart, she noticed, was not the word for the organ but the word for mate in her native tongue. Tali let out a small happy chirp before tackling Demo in a hug causing the other members of the engine crew to look over, shocked to see their captain without his helmet. Gabby let out a quiet sound of appreciation as, combined with his tight suit what was clearly a wiry but well formed body, she could clearly see exactly why Tali had spent two years pining over her ‘lost’ love.

Odysseus laughed at his love’s reaction and savoured the feeling of her body against his. {Angieal, I just came down to tell you that we’re heading out for the Doctor tomorrow so I need you to be ready. But,} teased Demo, deliberately drawing out the word and ending in a tone which left no room for interpretation, {if you really miss me that much we could just go to my room?}  
Tali blushed and desperately wished her answer was different as she replied, {I would love to but I have work to finish here.}  
Gabby rolled her eyes and called out, “Go on, Chief! We can finish up here. You have two years of sex to make up for,” making Tali flush.

Demo laughed. {That settles it. Sorry, folks, but I’m stealing your Chief for a while!} With that Demo bent, grabbed and threw Tali over his shoulder and walked out to the sound of Tali berating him and the engineering crew laughing along with him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Meanwhile, Eris was talking to Garrus. {Sweet fang, we need to… determine how recovered you are.}

Garrus raised a brow plate at her sultry tone but decided to play along. “Oh yeah?” he replied, “And how do you propose we do that?”

{Well, I’d say we should definitely test your reach and endurance so…} she teased, tapping her chin and pretending to consider it. {How about we head to my quarters and get some stress release?} Eris finished, wrapping her arms around Garrus’ waste and humming low in her chest to imitate the sound female turians would make when they wanted sex. The light squeeze on his waste combined with the humming quickly convinced Garrus as he felt his groin plates react. Without warning Garrus rounded on her, lifting Eris over his shoulder and carrying her through the, thankfully empty, mess hall towards the elevator. Getting in, he turned to press the button for the first floor, failing to notice the Captain and Tali until Eris stated talking with the girl in a similar predicament. {So, got my bro all hot and bothered have you?} asked Eris.

Tali giggled and nodded. {His waist and the humming thing?} she replied, smirking and nodding toward Eris to indicate Eris’ matching position. Meanwhile the men simply nodded to one another before looking away to plan their next moves. 

{Yep! Works every time!} said Eris in a chipper voice before the elevator opened and the girls were separated, left to wave each other goodbye and calling a last “Have fun.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The next day, while the ground team was heading out to the plague zone, Zaeed decided to bug the two aliens about the previous day. “So, had a good romp with twins, eh?”

Garrus turned to Eris, asking for himself and Tali, “Romp?”

Eris sighed and shook her head. “Sex, Garrus, he means sex.”

“Ah. Then yes, yes we did.” Tali nodded in agreement, thankful that no one could see her blush through her mask.

“Wow, not shame at all.”

Garrus was confused and a bit indignant. “Why should we feel shame? Eris is my mate and Tali is Demo’s.”

Zaeed choked on the water he’d just drunk. “MATE?! Do your parents know about this?” Zaeed sputtered out, whipping around to look at the twins. The rest of the ground crew were confused, having no idea as to why this was such a big deal.

“Of course they know. They even blessed it before we died and again when I called them yesterday,” Demo answered. 

Zaeed just shook his head. “Little brats all grown up and mated. I never thought I’d see the day. You two used to be among the least emotional people I’d ever met and now look at you.”

“What’s so important about having a mate?” Jacob voiced the confusion he and Miranda were feeling.

Odysseus radioed back as they rounded a corner leading to the plague zone. “It means that in the eyes of the Quarian people, we’re married. Not that any other government recognises it. We were going to have a real wedding about two weeks after we got blown out of the sky. Probably have to reschedule it now,” he said turning to deal with the guard and gain access. Miranda was finally understanding just how little Cerberus actually knew about the twins. Had she known that they were basically married, she would have ordered the retrieval if their lovers in order to make the transition easier. Miranda couldn’t help but wonder just how much of the files they actually had were cover stories.

After arguing for a while (Eris mostly) they settled on Garrus wearing his helmet with a specially designed filter program, courtesy of Demo. They entered the plague zone and began to see first-hand the kind of damage it was doing to the area. Searching around the group was disgusted to find bodies burning in the streets before stumbling onto a dying Batarian. Once he recognised them, the alien changed his tone from disrespectful to downright terrified. “One very big question before we begin,” started Demo, his voice low and dangerous, “have you ever dealt in the slave trade and have you ever attacked a Quarian, unprovoked? Answer correctly and we might just patch you up.”

The man, either missing the warning signs in Demo’s voice or believing that the ‘correct answer’ was the affirmative, replied chuckling, “Ha, I used to sell Quarian slaves to the sick fucks who liked to watch them slowly die or the tech thieves. Do you know what they did? They pierced the suits and left them.”

The entire ground team knew, in the back of their minds, what was about to happen but the Cerberus agents had never seen what happened when the twins were treated with a confirmed enemy of the Quarian people. Without warning, each twin buried a boot knife into the man’s kneecaps and twisted. After a few moment the twins had all the information they needed and rose carefully. {Thank you for your assistance. Here’s you reward,} said Eris as she pressed her biotically charged palm against the man’s head and pressed, crushing his skull against the wall behind him while he screamed. In the sudden quiet the twins turned and gestured the team forward, moving as though they hadn’t just murdered a murderer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and feedback always encouraged!  
> one shot ideas or prompts for this story or others always wanted!  
> this chapter was a bit dark at the end and i am sorry for that the next one will not be as darker i promise. Also Mordin and another fact of the twins shadowed past revealed!


	7. Mordin meets the demons of his past

CHAPTER 7 – Mordin Meets his Demons

Doctor Mordin Solus was struggling against the plague in his district. There was only one way to stop it spreading and currently no way to enact that plan. He was considering plans to get the cure to the vent controls when heard sounds outside and paused in his mad dashing around the clinic. ‘Screaming. Not pain from plague. Pain from wound? No, sound of fighting. Not the right tones. Fear? What could be-?” muttered Solus only to be cut off by his own fear as his answer walked into the room. There stood the two humans who, in the past, had hunted his STG team back when they were doing illegal Genophage testing on humans. Whilst he had been opposed and had actually leaked the information to the Alliance in hopes of ending the program, he had always remembered the first and last time that he’d met these two.

Mordin had been staring down the barrel of the masked female’s rifle as an Omni-Blade sheared off half of his horn. {We thank you for your assistance and information Doctor and regret the pain we have caused. For you own benefit your close escape needs to be convincing} the man had said as he’d backed off.

{We are truly sorry but we must protect our people. Ancestors guide you to safer ports} the female had told him in a kinder tone before disappearing. That was nearly seven years ago now. Mordin Solus was terrified.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris and Demo stopped short at the sight of the one Salarian the twins would never forget; a target who had led them on a long and hard chase before, ultimately, being let go with only a severed horn. {The ancestors clearly have a twisted sense of humour,} Demo remarked dryly causing the rest of the team, minus Eris who was still staring at the Salarian, to look at him.  
{It has been some time Doctor. I see the years have been kind to you,} said Eris politely.

Finally shocked out of his silence, the Doctor started his terrified mile-a-minute rambling again. “Why now? Finish job? Not likely. Too much time passed. Other crimes? None committed to bring any attention! Why group? Not needed last time! Don’t-“  
He was cut off by Demo who, taking pity on the man, finally interrupted, {Doctor, we aren’t here for your crimes, past or recent. We’re working with the Cerberus organisation and we need your help.}

Eris broke in before Mordin could respond. {I know that working with Cerberus and us, considering our history, might make you hesitant but we wouldn’t ask if we didn’t need you. Human colonies are being attacked by the Collectors and we know that you’re the best there is with your particular skillset. They’re using some kind of toxin or tech and we need you to develop a counter agent.}

Mordin was shocked, but quickly agreed on the proviso that they help to deliver the plague cure. The man sent everyone but his sister to the waiting room while he said, {I hope there’s no bad blood from our history. We did mean what we said back then.}  
Mordin knew that the twins demonstrated a curious mix of cold calculation and moral integrity, never harming the innocent and ending those who were only doing their jobs quickly while they slowly and painfully murdered the people who had relished their work on the humans. He scoffed, waving off the suggestion. “Of course not. Never one to hold grudges.”

{Thank you. Nice to know. Anyway, my name is Eris and this is my twin brother Odysseus or Demo.}

‘Eris,’ he thought, remembering his studies of old Earth plays, ‘was a Goddess of Strife and Discord and Odysseus was an ancient Greek hero famous for defeating Troy with a Trojan horse. This will be interesting.’  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins re-joined the others and began to make their way to the ventilation system as Tali and Garrus moved to their side. {How did you to know him?} asked Tali

Demo, not looking around thanks to his suit cams, replied, {We were hunting his team for an old job. He was the mole who got us started on the mission so we let him live but we took a horn to keep plausible deniability.}  
“Damn! No wonder he freaked out,” commented Jacob.

Miranda was trying to get more details but knew it was futile when Eris interrupted, “Sorry Miranda. The rest is classified to the highest level. We can’t tell you anything.”

The Vorcha healed fast enough that combat was quickly becoming very annoying. Demo started lobbing fire-modded bombs at them to cancel their healing abilities and Garrus and Zaeed hung back as snipers. Miranda and Jacob worked in the front while Tali and the twins flanked them; Tali covering Demo while Gizmo and Chatika protected Eris. After finally reaching and activating the fan controls and inputting the cure, and heading back to the Doctor. Confirming the Doc would meet the team on board they left, having safely returned the assistant, cured the plague and sparing anyone who hadn’t been involved with slavery or harmed the Quarian people or who hadn’t wronged them first. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Mordin watched the twins leave, wondering how he had come to work with the people who had once chased him through city streets. Curious and eager to see what kind of tech they had on board, he left the clinic and started heading for the ship, wondering why people were moving out of his way as if he was contagious. A group of Aria’s guards intercepted him and told him that they had been sent to ensure his safe and fast passage to the Normandy. “The faster you’re on that ship, the faster the demons leave and the faster Aria can get back to business,” the leader informed him.

Another grumbled under his breath as they walked, “Yeah. Every time they come on the station the slave and drug trades slam to a halt and there’s a whole new pile of corpses to clean up.” At this point Mordin realised that not only were the twins the hunters from his past but also the infamous Blue Demons. Mordin wondered what else they could be hiding in their pasts.  
After speaking to the Yeoman and being briefed on the mission, Mordin settled into his lab. The Cerberus CO introduced herself and conducted the formal tour and briefing and when asked about what the twins were doing only replied with a cryptic, “Not what but who.”

Mordin didn’t understand until later when the pair came in followed by the Turian and Quarian, and, as revealed by his scans, were covered in their respective mates’ pheromones. “Ah, now understanding. You are mated formally?” he asked.  
Demo shook his head. {Only by Quarian law. We’ve planned a shotgun wedding while we’re on the Citadel.} Mordin nodded as Eris came forward to give him an OSD chip and a modified STG Burst Transmitter. {The OSD contains everything my sister and I have on the Seeker Swarms and Collector biology. The Transmitter is for if you need a secure, untraceable extranet line. It will patch into ships and ride on their signals without allowing them to trace it. Just know that it runs through mine so I’ll see everything you send or receive.} With that the twins left to call their adoptive mothers and arrange a meeting. Mordin settled into his lab to work, impressed with the modifications. He didn’t fail to notice the signature on each reading ‘DEMO’ in Quarian script.


	8. Blast from the past

CHAPTER 8 – Blast from the Past

Kasumi Goto waited, hidden in the upper walkways of the Citadel, for her new bosses. The call from Cerberus had said that it was the twins but until she saw them for herself she refused to believe that her oldest friends were truly back from the grave. Her Omni-tool pinged her informing her that the Normandy had docked and the ground team was on their way to the main entrance. Watching as a pair of Quarian-styled humans wearing strange visors led a team of four others, she activated the ad stand and waited. She moved behind them, hopeful as she noticed them walk identically to the twins. “Captain Shepard enter the password and win a free prize!” she heard the advertisement say and held her breath as she waited for the truth.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris snickered at the voice of Kasumi coming from the ad. A chuckling Demo decided to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was exactly who he said he was. {Silence is golden and you still owe me fifty credits for getting you that copy of Drell Fornax,} he said, knowing she’d be nearby, and was immediately tackled by a de-cloaking cat-suited figure.

Eris waved off the tense ground team as she also joked, {Really, Kasumi? Drell? You told me you didn’t want to know what they looked like under their clothes.}

Kasumi blushed as she detached herself from Demo and hugged Eris. {It was to settle a bet!} she stammered out. Demo laughed before poking her ass, making her leap off of Eris and slap him on the shoulder.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tali recognized the woman as the tearful cloaked figure from the twins’ funeral. Tali was really glad that the twins were able to see an old friend. She’d been told the tale of this woman and her stealthy (thieving) habits. {I thought there was two. A female and a male?} she asked, quickly regretting it as she saw the woman become withdrawn and sad.   
{Keiji was killed. They stole his grey box. That’s why I need your help.} 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Garrus watched the twins’ demeanour change an instant before they wrapped the small woman in a in their arms, speaking softly. The rage unbridled rage burning in Odysseus’ eyes left chills down Garrus’ spine. He had rarely ever seen such anger his captain and in such direct contrast with his tone of voice as he said, {Don’t worry, little cousin. We’ll get your Cori back for you and we will make the monster who took him suffer.} 

{The demon will know fear before we are done with him,} Eris promised and her eyes carried just as much hate as her brother’s as she comforted Kasumi.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins quickly started introducing the others. Zaeed only grunted and swore a bit but welcomed Kasumi who, like the twins, greeted him as an uncle. Mordin scanned the woman saying her skin tone was fascinating and how he would like to take samples, pausing for a moment before nodding and welcoming her as what seemed like an afterthought. When Tali was introduced as Odysseus mate Kasumi lunged at her, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Welcome to the family cus!” she squealed.   
Tali looked at Demo with a curiously tilted head and Garrus looked at Eris with a similar expression, the twins shrugged together before Eris spoke, Demo trying to pry Tali out of Kasumi’s death grip. {She’s our cousin on our birth mother’s side. We accidentally met her on a mission when we needed some other thieves and hired her and her boyfriend. She’s ok, Cori.} Garrus nodded before Kasumi crushed him in another hug upon hearing the term the twins only used with family and recognising Garrus as Eris’s mate.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The meeting with the council went better than expected. Eris and Demo made a deal stating that they would swipe as much research and data as possible for the Council provided they were granted their ranks and given amnesty for any crimes committed in Cerberus’s employ. The twins had also hacked Anderson’s computer to find Ashley and ducking into a side room pushed a panel causing a door to open and allowing them to slide in. {This is a Comm room for making secure calls so that we can talk to Ash before we leave,} Demo explained while Eris scanned them all for listening devices before engaging the call.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Ashley Williams was sitting in her room cursing at the colonists who seemed determined to make her job difficult. When she had heard the rumours that the twins were back, she had begged Anderson to let her seek out the truth but he had stonewalled her. A call on her black level channel came through. She knew about the channel but had never had a reason to receive a call which needed to be so highly classified and secure. Answering the call, Ash was shocked to see a pair of ghosts flanked by her old crew mates. 

Demo spoke quickly, cutting off her stuttered greeting and explained what had happened after their deaths along with their current mission. “So what do you need me to do, Skipper?” she asked. Although Ashley was loyal to the alliance, she had learned to put the twins first. She was incredibly grateful to the pair who had even arranged for her promotion shortly before they died.  
Eris smiled at her before speaking. {For now, nothing. Keep doing whatever you’re doing but be ready for us. I have a bad feeling about you being out there. Keep your weapon primed and your armour and helmet on you at all times. But don’t worry. Soon enough we will need you. I just wish you were closer so you could attend the wedding,} Eris explained.

“No worries Eris. I know you want this over with soon as possible. Just treat me to a night out when we see each other next.”   
{Deal,} answered Odysseus, {Eris and I have to go but keep an eye on your inbox. We’ll be in touch soon.} As Demo cut the connection, Ashley smiled thinking of the twins being back and waiting for her.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Garrus and Tali were nervous about seeing the twin’s mothers again when the twins were suddenly tackled by a pair of flying Varren. Their mothers’ laughter soon followed as the pair came up to them. {I see the boys remember you two!} Zuro joked as they came up, Lura whistling loudly to call the hounds back to her sides. Tali and Garrus found themselves hugged tightly by the pair of woman and Kasumi was also scooped up into a hug by Zuro as Lura rubbed the back of the little girl who clung to them. {It’s okay, my little one. I know it hurts but your family will help you.} The pair had heard what happened and were glad to see all three of their adoptive children back together. 

Garrus looked at Eris who shrugged. {After the mission we mentioned, we found out about our relation and took her to meet them. They took her in as well so technically we are both cousins and siblings.} Garrus mind was blown but before he could question it Zaeed broke in.

“Enough with the sap show! We have a wedding to get to and supplies to purchase! Although, ladies, it’s good to see your old arses again!” Zuro and Lura both punch a shoulder and then hugged him before dancing away when he swiped at them.   
{Ah, Z, you’re still a big softy!} Zuro sang as she danced out of his way as Lura laughed. 

{All jokes aside it is good to know the kids have their uncle looking out for them!} Lura said as they moved to the chapel. The wedding was short and sweet. For the two couples the ceremony only made their marriage official. After the wedding they went back to the ship for drinks. 

Miranda was shocked when they arrived with the older pair. “Who are these two?” She asked but not harshly as the twins had been working on softening her up and making her relax when off duty.

{They are our adoptive mothers, Zuro and Lura. They raised us for the most part.} Miranda nodded and welcomed the pair using this time to try and get to know the mysterious twins better. Kelly joined them shortly after and began chatting with the pair, quickly falling head over heels with the women. {Mother, mom please stop trying to steal our Yeomen; we still need her. After the mission she’s all yours,} Demo snarked as the group laughed. 

However, most of the group was stunned silent when Zuro removed her mask and placed gentle fingers under the yeomen’s chin, making her look into her glowing eyes. {Until the ship needs to leave why don’t you come and play with us?} Kelly glanced at the twins. 

{Go ahead, if you want Kelly. Our mothers like to add others in from time to time,} Eris said. Kelly nodded and soon found herself being hauled off by the pair with an overnight bag and the Varrens on her heels. The twins soon retired, eager to get their honeymoon started. After all they only had two days of shore leave before they left to deal with Kasumi’s personal mission.


	9. death of a rich Ass

CHAPTER 9 – The Death of a Rich Man

Kasumi piloted the ship down towards the LZ of Hock’s estate. Garrus was dressed in the Turian equivalent of a pirate’s dress armour. Tali was dressed in a quarian suit with sashes arranged to look alluring for Turians, while Zaeed was dressed like a bodyguard with large dark shades hiding most of his facial scars. The odd trio was dressed in such a fashion as a cover for the twins, currently hidden by tactical cloaks, so that they would be able to sneak in. The original plan called for the twins to be the guests but upon hearing that Zaeed’s old enemy Vetio would be there, changed to allow the stealth masters to be stealthy while also allowing Zaeed to deal with Vetio.

Zaeed and the ‘guests’ got in with very little trouble, the stealth team following close behind, and found the vault as fast they could without raising suspicions. Once they entered the room housing the massive door the stealth trio de-cloaked and began searching the room. Demo and Kasumi were the most experienced out of the group as they were both professional thieves. “This is some serious stuff. Kinetic barrier, voice recognition with password lock, and finally a DNA scanner,” Kasumi rattled off as Demo whistled in appreciation and Eris watched under her recon hood. 

“Can you crack it?” Garrus asked worriedly as, from what he’d heard this thing was almost impossible to get through.   
Demo and Kasumi scoffed while Eris snickered at the question. {Oh, those two can crack it easily. With Demo’s programming skills and Kasumi’s high grade scanners this is no problem.} 

Demo nodded and gave instructions to the entire group. {All right, here is what we need: Garrus, we need you to kill the power and get a voice sample off Hock. While you handle that Eris and Kasumi will get the password. I’m going to sneak into Hock’s room to get the DNA we need. When the door is unlocked we will split in three groups. Zaeed, I will lure Vetio into a room then you and Garrus will take him out. Remember, quickly then get out. Eris and I will deal with Hock alone while Tali and Kasumi get the grey box and any other fun toys you find.} The group gave confirmation and moved out.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tali set Garrus’ visor to visualise the cables on EM scanners so that they could search while they moved through the party. “Did you hear? The Blue Demons are back! They killed a bunch mercs and slavers on Omega and stole Archangel and some doctor,” A lady said in a small, reverent voice. The man she was talking to swore. “Fuck! I’d hoped the rumours were true and those fuckers were dead. The last thing I need is the demons hunting my trade ships again. Last time they went after me, I was nearly killed!”   
“It’s the same for pretty much all of us. The demons coming back is an ill omen. They rarely leave a large trail like that unless they’re after bigger prey!” another man whispered, just as the trio found the control panel and Tali fried it.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris loved this. She was working with her sister again and about to rob and kill the son of a bitch who killed her future brother in law. The pair waited until a guard started to enter the room before following on his heels. Kasumi was equally excited to see her sister in action again. Eris had pulled out her silenced sniper rifle and set up her tracking program, locking on to the three guards. The moment she was ready she began firing. Three shots in rapid succession, making three headshots and killing the guards, the only sound being that of their bodies hitting the floor. Finding the password, they left the rooms to the sound of Hock giving a speech which gave them everything but the DNA. As soon as that thought crossed the pair’s minds their HUD informed them that Demo was waiting in the safe room with the DNA sample.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Odysseus moved silently as he wove his way through the walkway full of guards before reaching the ledge for the bedroom window and climbing it with all the grace of a jungle cat. This was what he lived for, that is, besides Tali. Nothing gave him a thrill quite like sneaking into a heavily guarded place and stealing right out from under the fools’ noses. This was where his true talents in the field lay, as a thief who had never once been caught. He slipped a small tool out of one of his many pockets and used it to open the window bypassing any alarm triggers before entering and searching for DNA samples as well as any kind of valuable data or money, in line with his speciality of course. Finding the DNA samples and several good pieces of info to sell as well as transferring thousands of credits to a hidden account, he quickly made his way back to the safe room and signalled the others. After the vault was unlocked the group split up; the pair of women headed into the vault while the men and Eris went back upstairs to deal a little bit of death.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Vetio received a ping from a woman he had been flirting with earlier asking to meet in a room upstairs in the guest wing, He entered, already rock hard and ready, but he instantly went limp, nearly pissing himself at the sight of Zaeed and a very large and very unhappy Turian. “Vetio! Time for you to die, you son of a bitch!” snarled Zaeed as he pulled out a pistol. Vetio knew screaming would do no good as most of the rooms were sound proofed. Turning to use the door, he was terrified to see the red light of a locked door glowing there, mocking him. Vetio started to turn and plead and bargain for his life when a single shot ran out a split second before his head exploded. Zaeed spat on the corpse before leaving as he muttered, “Too goddamn fast for a rat bastard like him.” Garrus followed quietly, thinking about how he would soon be able to do the same to Sidonis.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Hock’s Omni-Tool pinged with an alert informing him of trouble in his room and that they had caught the offender and were waiting for him. Excusing himself and saying that he needed to deal with a design choice in his room with a decorator, he moved off to deal with the perpetrator. He entered the room, furious that none of his guards were covering the outer walk way, and failed to notice the few spots of blood on the floor. Entering the main bedroom and hearing it lock and buzz behind him had him whipping around to try and open it. A cold voice spoke from behind him and chilled his blood. {Didn’t you know? The dead don’t leave their graves once they enter them.} Hock turned slowly to see a vision from his worst nightmares. The demon twins sat atop a large pile of corpses made from his guards. 

“W-w-what do you want?” he asked, futilely hoping this was a shake down for something and not his death. 

Eris smiled coldly behind her hood and said, in a sing song voice which still managed to promise doom, {Nothing much. Just revenge for Keiji and Ms. Goto. I’m afraid, that that means your death!} Hock paled even more as she jumped down with her twin and approached him. Demo grabbed his arm when he reached for his sidearm, snapping it easily with a twist of his own arm before shorting out the Hock’s Omni tool. Eris knelt before him he fell to his knees in pain. {Don’t worry, unlike many we give death to quickly, you get special treatment!} Eris continued in the same cheery voice before stabbing the bastard with a needle and injecting him with a lethal poison. The poison, which was specially designed by Eris and incurable except for the antidote only she possessed, would paralyse the victim as their body’s cells broke down, slowly killing them over the course of two hours, and ensured that the brain was the last to go so that they would feel everything. 

{Farewell Hock. We’ll be sure to put your money and information to good use,} Demo said before the pair vanished in their signature shimmer of light, leaving a scared Hock slowly dying and wondering where his life had gone so wrong.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Kasumi and Tali got in and out quickly. Grabbing the Stone tablets for Tali and the pair of Locusts for the twins, they snatched the grey box and left before they could trigger anything or any of the bodies were found. The ride back was quiet as Kasumi and the twins listened to her lover’s last message. At the end Eris and Odysseus wrapped her in gentle hug and told her to keep the memories until she was sure that she was ready to let them go. That night the pair of mates and Kasumi sat and drank, sharing stories and toasting to Keiji. The next stop was the prisoner and the twins couldn’t help but wonder if this was the same Jack as the one from their past.


	10. Jack

CHAPTER 10 – Parted in Fire to Meet Again in Fire

As the twins boarded the prison ship a sense of foreboding settled over the group. Previously, they had learnt about the scams the warden had run in the past and were concerned that his greedy tendencies could jeopardise the mission, retrieving Jack. Because of this concern, the entire ground team had tech training, Tali and Garrus along with Kasumi and Miranda, so that they could hack their way through any locked doors if need be. 

The team cautiously entered the reception area. The twins and Miranda were wearing their hard-suits and with the twins’ additional recon hoods while Garrus wore the new dual Comm armour which Eris had ordered for him. Kasumi, cloaked, followed in a slightly more armoured version of her usual cat suit. 

A guard stepped up to the group, clearly nervous but willing to do his job. “Welcome to Purgatory. You will have to relinquish your weapons to proceed.”

Eris and Odysseus scoffed before Demo continued in a chilling voice, {The only way these weapons will be ‘relinquished’ is over my cold, dead body. Ask me again, watch what happens.} The guard quickly backed down even before the warden entered and berated him, clearly smart enough to recognise and fear the Blue Demons of Omega. The warden directed them to out-processing while Jack was released from cryo-stasis and Demo quickly opened a private channel with the rest of his team. {Heads up. This guy is going to betray us, soon.}

“How do you know? Cerberus is pouring in a lot of credits for this purchase,” asked Miranda.

Eris explained to the rest of the group, {Simple. The amount you’re paying pales in comparison to the amount he’d get for auctioning us off to crime lords.} Miranda finally understood, mentally adding up figures based solely on what the twins had done since coming back to life, let alone before their deaths. 

The moment the trap was sprung, Odysseus, in a voice colder than the space which had taken him two years ago, spoke to the camera in the corner of the ceiling. {Warden! If you run, we will make your death even more slow and painful than it already will be. Surrender now, hand over Jack and we will leave peacefully. Don’t and my team and I will kill every single being we come across except Jack.} 

The warden laughed at what he believed to be simple bravado until he saw the results of his arrogance. Demo, while the warden had been distracted, had ordered Kasumi to set his demolition charges along the corridors leading to their new ‘cell,’ which he now activated, shredding the group sent by the warden to pieces. 

{Weapons free! Kill everything in sight except Jack and us!} ordered Eris as the siblings vanished beneath their cloaks.  
The fight was horrifying as guards’ heads exploded left and right from a very unhappy Eris while they were forced from cover by a couple of heavily modded drones. The rest of the poor bastards fell to the combined efforts of the ground team before the team finally made it to the control room. Odysseus sighed as he discovered that some idiot had entered an emergency program which opened every cell door upon opening one. As the chamber opened, the twins were shocked as another ghost from their past exploded out and destroyed the Heavy Mechs guarding her cell.

Eris was the first to break the silence as they raced after the young killing machine. {Well, shit. I’d hoped she would’ve given up crime after the shit-show on the station,} she called to Demo, who nodded.  
“What do you mean?” asked Miranda.

{Explain later. Need to catch her before she gets herself killed!} Demo replied, punching a guard who had started to raise his weapon, his exploding Omni-Knuckles killing the man. They continued through the corridors, following the trail of dead and injured bodies left in her wake.

The fight with the warden was quick and messy. The moment the shield pylons started up they crashed back down as Tali, Demo and Kasumi simultaneously launched overloads at them. The rest of the team held their ground as the twins and Kasumi cloaked to deal with the warden and the large heavy weapon he was using. Once they were in position, flanking the bastard, Kasumi and Eris launched overloads to drop his shields. Odysseus sent out a very powerful Pyro tech attack at the Turian bastard burning his armour away a split second before the man’s head vanished in a spray on blue from a single shot from Eris’s widow. The other guards ran the instant the warden died, knowing that no one was paying them anymore.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Jack ran through the station determined to escape. She didn’t know what moron had let her out or what the emergency was and she did not fucking care. She fought her way through a pair of guards and saw the Cerberus ship, screaming in rage at the ship which was clearly there for her. No matter what, she was not going back to those fuckers! Noticing a guard moving towards her, she turned but before she could react a pair of silenced shots blew a pair of holes in the fucker’s head and chest. Jack whipped around snarling and ready to fight but what she saw made her freeze before letting out a long stream of curses for an entirely reason. 

Standing there flanked by several others were the Blue Demons. ‘Crap! I thought they were fucking \ dead. I thought I was finally safe!’ Jack thought remembering that day all those years ago, back when she was a lot dumber than now. Jack had agreed to take out a pair of alliance agents for her drug lord bosses, not knowing who they really were at the time. She had found them in an empty Hannar station and confronted them. Back then it had quickly become apparent that she was vastly out matched so she ran, sending the station on a crash course with the moon. Bolting as fast as she had, she had thought that they had died there. Then they had resurfaced and killed the entire gang besides her by the time she found out that the boss had tricked her.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Odysseus could hardly believe that one of the few criminals to ever escape or come close to killing the twins after attacking them was standing in front of him. Years ago, the twins had been hunting a slaver and drug dealer when they had been attacked by this tiny woman. After she had finally realized that she couldn’t win, she had run and, in order to escape, sent the empty – except for the trio – space station into the moon below. The twins had barely gotten out alive. They never went after her when they found out she had been tricked into fighting them. {Jack, we’re here to hire you for a mission-} Demo started in a calm voice. 

“Fuck you! I know what you do to people who try to kill you and now you’re Cerberus!” 

Eris stepped in, better at dealing with people than Demo. {Jack, look at me. Two things. First, we’ve already had our revenge for the station. We never blame the assassin who is only being tricked. Second, Cerberus brought us back from the dead to hunt the collectors, who are attacking human colonies. After we deal with the Collectors we’re taking their ship and fucking them over as hard as we can. Now, if that’s done, name your price.} 

Jack thought about it for a moment. From what she knew the demons bore no love for Cerberus and had actually killed a lot of the fuckers over the years. Naming her price and restraining herself when the cheerleader tried to tell the twins they couldn’t do that, for which she was ignored, Jack smiled, thinking the twins might be what she needed to make a proper hunting list, ‘Hell,’ she thought, ‘I might just make a list of the most fucked up of the fuckers, give it to the twins, sit back and watch as they murdered their way through.’

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The debriefing was over quickly but before she could escape into the depths of the ship the twins dragged her off to the med bay for a check-up. {Stop fighting it. The sooner you get this over with, the sooner you can leave and the sooner you’ll be on the ground team killing things to your heart’s content,} Demo explained as the masked fucker sat on a bed across from her, the small Quarian in his lap while his twin sat in the lap of the messed-up looking Turian. 

“The fuck is up with that? Are you going to have sex in here or are you trying to freak me out?” she demanded of the twins.  
Eris, currently enjoying the feeling of Garrus’ claws massaging her while Demo did the same to Tali, spoke on their behalf; {Garrus is my mate and husband and Tali is Odysseus’s wife and mate. But no need to worry. We won’t rut in front of you, lassie. We’re just waiting for your check-up to finish and you to be cleared for action before we go rut like rabbits so,} Eris smirked, {hurry up.} 

Jack was momentarily stunned at her blunt answer before she laughed hard and loud as the doc finished up. “This is going to be fun! You two are nuts, but that works for me. Just tell me when it’s time to kill and keep those Cerberus fuckers away from me,” she said as the doc cleared her. 

Jack stared to leave but stopped at the door when Demo called to her. {Training for the ground team is at 0900 every day in the cargo bay. Don’t be late. This is training to keep skills sharp, learn new ones and learn to not get in each other’s shots.} Jack waved over her shoulder as she left. She would be there every time. She wasn’t stupid enough to get the demons angry with her, knowing that those people tended to die painfully.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Once the quartet had their own post-mission check-ups done they all stood to leave. Without warning the two males tossed their mates over their shoulders and walked out of the bay, laughing and waving over their other shoulders to the doc. {Bye Karin! See you later!} Eris called cheerfully as Tali simply smiled and waved good bye while Karin tried not to fall over laughing at the sight. The crew gawked as the males walked to the elevator and push the button. Seeing the stares Eris pushed on Garrus’s back to twist around and lift her head to look at them before calling out sternly. {What! Have you lot never seen husbands carry their tired wives to bed? No? Doesn’t matter! Stop gawking and get back to work! If you have time to gawk you have time to work or eat, now get to it!} The crew rushed off as the elevator arrived and a startled Kelly squeaked before bolting out of the elevator, now beet red, as the pair got in and went up to their cabins for some good old fashioned stress release.


	11. Grunt

CHAPTER 11 – The Twins get a new Krogan

Miranda was screaming at the top of her lungs as Garrus groaned, clutching the controls of the co-pilot seat in a desperate death grip. The rest of the ground team were in similar states, minus Jack, Zaeed and the pilot, Eris as the shuttle plummeted towards the ground. Over the Comms Tali could be heard cursing Demo in Khelish as the mantis gun ship kept pace during the drop. When the ground filled the view screens Miranda almost believed that the twins had decided to return to death a split second before they flared the thrusters to slow the ships and land gently. Miranda was first out of the shuttle, tearing her helmet off to throw up behind some scrap in the junk yard as Odysseus swung out of the mantis and dropped to the ground laughing. {Keelah! How I missed that! Am I right, Eris?} Demo called out still laughing.

Tali crawled out of the mantis now understanding what Garrus meant about how hard it was not to try and grab the controls during those dives. Over the last two years she had run a few missions and a few times she had practiced that kind of drop making this slightly easier on her than the others. Tali looked around to see how the others had handled their first time riding in a ship with two of the top three but clearly the most insane pilots in the galaxy and snorted at Miranda who was still vomiting. Garrus was leaning against the shuttle, holding Eris with her back against him and calming in her presence. Tali walked over to Demo who did the same, wrapping her in a hug to help her calm down when she noticed that Jack looked like a kid after a ride on a rollercoaster, wanting to go again. “Damn! I was fucking right! You two are nuts. That was the best shuttle ride fucking ever!” she said laughing at Miranda who was still busy emptying her stomach.

“At least you two finally learned to do the goddamn drop right. You two brats used to pull up too soon,” Zaeed grumbled and somehow Tali was not surprised to learn that he had a hand in the twin’s unfortunate habit. 

Mordin looked like he was a cross between impressed and horrified. Tali’s suit mics picked up his one-side conversation with Jacob who looked like he was trying to not match Miranda. “Fascinating! A margin of error less than two seconds between successful drop and certain death. Requires great skill and nerves. Now understand how they passed the Evac shuttle on Cell 6.” Jacob nodded carefully along while trying to not lose his lunch.

Suddenly Tali heard someone whisper into her mic pickups. “Tell me the truth. You or Garrus threw up when my sibs did that with you the first time, right?” Tali smiled at the mildly stressed tone of Kasumi but Tali shook her head. “Really? I’m impressed! At least one person in the group always ends up like Miranda for the first run.” 

{It was a human named Ashley Williams, Kas. She was the one to lose it the first time. Tali just hit me for it and Garrus swore that Eris and I must have a death wish!} Demo said laughing.

After a short while, the group split into three teams: the two Cerberus agents who stayed behind to guard the ships, Eris, after hearing the bitch on the speakers split off with Garrus, Zaeed and Jack to get her out of the way and Demo took the rest to find the Krogan Warlord they had come for in the first place. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Mordin followed Demo, hoping to gain the Warlord’s research on the Genophage. After he had confessed his part in the Genophage to the twins, he had been shocked when they simply asked for a copy of his research. When asked why, the twins revealed that they were working on their own species modifying plague, one which would cure Kepral’s Syndrome, a Drell lung disease, which was next on their list of big problems to solve before they died. So Mordin, relishing the chance to save rather than prevent lives, gave it gladly.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Please help me!” a bleeding guard begged Eris, who was currently wearing her recon hood. 

{What will you give me?} she asked in her sweet-but-deadly voice, making the man pale before a call came over the radio asking for directions. {You heard him. You want to the pain to end give them the directions that will get them killed. It’s your life or theirs; your choice, Laddie!} her Irish bur sickly sweet. The man relayed the instructions and told them everything he knew.   
“Now please help me!” he begged again and her next words and actions chilled his blood. 

{Don’t worry, Laddie. You won’t feel any more pain soon,} she said soothingly as she pulled out her sword. He started to beg and squirm away before he died instantly from the blade severing his spine. 

“Damn Shepard! That was brutal!” Jack said and Garrus explained as Eris cleaned her sword off.   
“The man tried to kill us and was willingly working for a criminal.” Eris nodded before tacking on. 

{He also was not going to change, you could see it in his eyes. So better to him kill now than after he takes another innocent life,} she explained as they moved around the corner, looking for the boss and killing anyone between Eris and her prey.  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Demo walked down the corridor after speaking with the Krogan. {Mordin, what do you make of this? How could one defeat the Genophage without curing it?}

“Unknown. No cure… Maybe the Krogan is confused. Half-done imprint leaving out important information,” replied the doctor ad they fought through the Krogan and Blue Suns mercenaries, swiping tech or upgrades along the way.

{No. I think he knew the whole story but how can one defeat the enemy without removing the threat?} Demo asked again.

Kasumi piped up as she took down another merc. “Maybe by making it useless or no longer a problem. That’s how we get through some locks,” she pointed out.

Tali, having spoken many times with Wrex about their views, believed she may have figured it out. {It might be some way to make the Krogan stronger and better but only on an individual level but not for massive numbers?}

Demo nodded as they neared the Warlord’s laboratory. {I think that might be it. He may be trying to change from hoard-based tactics to smaller numbers with more skill.}

Mordin was about to respond when they ran into a familiar Asari. “Don’t shoot! Shepard, it’s me! You saved me on Virmire, remember?” she cried. The group looked to Demo who only shook his head, asking a few questions before telling the girl to run.  
{That might come back to bite you, bro,} Kasumi warned but Demo shook his head.

{I know her type. She’ll find some other cause to help. Hopefully it’ll be better than this next time,} he replied as they entered the lab the find a sneering Krogan Warlord.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eris moved, cloaked and silent as a leopard hunting their prey, as the rest of the team stayed back to let her do what she was trained for. She saw the bitch moving around yelling on a platform guarded by heavy mechs and stopped as soon as she had a good line of sight. Moving into a suitable position, she pulled her widow out. She noted that the bitch would have to die with the first shot as she would only have time to fire three times before hell would break loose and all three had to take down their targets before they had a chance to raise any type of alarm. She watched for a few moments through the lens of her hood to understand how her prey walked and reacted before switching to the scope to aim. As soon as she had painted all three targets she slowed her breathing then began. It would take only three heartbeats for this to be over, holding her breath so that her bodies slight movements while breathing wouldn’t affect the shots. 

The first made the merc leader’s head vanish in a crimson fountain as the round tore through the shields and armour as if they weren’t there. The second shot took out the Heavy Mech a single beat before the third shot ended the last mech. The Mechs blasted apart as the core inside melted down and exploded. With no one to trigger the alarms, the remaining mercs remained unaware that their leader was dead. 

Eris smiled coldly as she retreated. This was the side of the twins they tried not to show their mates; this darkness that rested within them. It was true they hated taking life without cause but Eris’s targets always deserved it. This was a fact just like the ones Demo robbed blind. What they hid from everyone, especially Tali and Garrus, was the feeling of exhilaration that came from their work. This was why they stopped bounty hunting and became black ops to get their fix. The alliance had known their passion and that was why the twins had always been given the hardest jobs with the toughest criminals. They never wanted their mates to see this hunger and the guilt they felt ate at the twins’ souls.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Demo stood before the Warlord, becoming increasingly annoyed at the clearly old and crazy being who had been ranting at the group about how he would make the galaxy fear the lance of the Krogan rather than the hoard. Almost fearing the answer, Demo, emptying his voice of all emotion, asked the question which would seal the Warlord’s fate. {What of the Quarian race? What will become of them in you master plan?} Behind him the rest of the team tensed, knowing that the question meant life or death for the Krogan.

“The suit rats will bow before my lance of be stomped under foot on the way to stronger foes!” Okeer laughed, barely having a moment to wonder why a human would ask such an absurd question before an Omni-Blade was driven through his chin and into his brain. “Why?” he managed to whisper.

{Because no one threatens my people and live. You will die and I will take and teach your grunt to value them. He will protect the Quarian race even before his own.} Demo smiled as the Warlord died with horror across his face. In a much more amicable tone, Demo contacted Joker. {Joker, Krogan is a no-go but he left us a gift before he died. Have the storage room cleared out for a cloning tank; we’ve tank-bred pure krogan coming on board.}

“Demo, what do we call it when you kill someone and take their stuff?” Joker asked, laughing over the Comms.  
{That, dear Joker, is called adventuring!} Demo said as Tali and Kasumi joined into the laughter. {Miranda, Jacob, lock onto our Comms and bring the ships over. Make sure to bring the Mantis. We have a lovely little present to take back. And if whoever is driving my baby gets a single scratch on her, I will skin you alive and feed you to Eris’ fish,} he said and Eris piped over her end.  
{Same goes for my shuttle. You so much as scuff my seats and I will feed you to my fish!}

Jacob and Miranda paled, knowing that the twins were very protective of their ships. After a quick scuffle, Miranda was stuck flying the Mantis while Jacob moved the shuttle. Landing in the proper areas, they quickly traded places with the twins, satisfied that there was no damage. The rest of the team watched the twins in their element as they smoothly took off and manually docked at the same time with no concerns or complications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings my dear readers! the power is in your hands for a major choice. I am bringing in Legion early for reason that he is to awesome to be left out until so late.  
> Now you choice is this when do you want him brought in, the choices are either the horizon mission or the collector ship mission. I have plans for both and cant decide so comment below or message me with you vote!  
> Hope you are enjoying the series and as always i am open to suggestions as to ways to improve the story or plot ideas.


	12. Call from tim

CHAPTER 12 – A Call from T.I.M

Odysseus stood in front of the tank housing the Krogan. Glancing around him he saw the rest of his small team was standing ready; his sister and Garrus were in the rear corners of the room with rifles ready while Tali and the drones stood ready by the door. The plan was simple: if the Krogan tried to start breaching the tech armour Demo was wearing they were to take it out but until that time they were to hold fire. Demo was also holding his shotgun in his left hand while waiting for the tank to finish releasing the Krogan held within. The tank opened with a hiss as the Krogan fell out and on to its knees coughing up the fluid left in its lungs.

The Krogan swiftly became aware of a creature standing in front of him and he charged the creature with narrowed and a snarl, intending to crush the small creature. When they crashed into the wall front of him he was shocked to find the unknown creature fine because of the tech armour it wore. He drew in the creature’s scent and the imprints from his glass mother told him what he needed to know. “Human male. Before you die, I need a name!” he snarled at the soft being, wearing quarian styled clothes and a bright purple visor that gleamed above what had twisted into a cold smirk. 

{Yours or mine?} 

The Krogan briefly noted that the human spoke the Quarian tongue but moved on. He did not care about what tongue it spoke.

“Mine. The tank gave words but no name. Okeer, warlord, legacy, Grunt but no name.” 

{Your name is Grunt. That is what your creator called you.} 

Grunt growled at the tone in the human’s voice. There was no fear, his imprints told him that his race was feared by humans and yet this one’s voice held only cold power coiling slowly. “I seek a strong clan and worthy foes. Lacking both I will start by killing you!” Grunt was surprised when the smirk twisted into a smile which reminded him of an ambush predator, trap sprung and ready to feast.

{If you seek a strong clan, you have found one. If you seek a worthy foe, then join us on our hunt. Our prey is great in number and we intend to kill every last one of them.}

Grunt thought for a moment, before accepting the cold words as sincere. “I will follow you. But if you prove weak and your prey is unworthy, I will kill you.”

{Glad you saw things my way. I would hate to clean up Krogan blood and guts,} the human said cheerfully, gesturing behind Grunt. 

Finally out of his little zone, Grunt looked around and noticed the drones, shotguns and rifles levelled at his back. “Ha! Offer one hand but arm the other! Very well human. I will be here when you need me to fight.” After some brief introductions, the twins moved off to a call with T.I.M. while Jack and Zaeed were called to give Grunt a run-down and the tour.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins entered the QEC view field and waited for the bastard T.I.M. to appear. When he did the twins were both wearing their masks again, refusing to let him see anything of their faces. “Captain, Commander,” he began, nodding in greeting, “I think we have them. The colony of Horizon has been experiencing Comm black outs everyday with greater lengths every time. We believe they may be preparing to attack if they haven’t already. You should know, your former team mate, Lieutenant Williams, is stationed there,” T.I.M. said watching the twins for any sign of, well, anything to give him a glimpse into the pair’s attitudes as Cerberus, despite their best efforts, had very little on the twins. 

{Ashley? What is she doing there? Never mind,} Odysseus cut off T.I.M. as he tried to reply before continuing. {More importantly, what are you keeping from us? Surely you know that withholding information is a very bad idea,} Odysseus said and it took everything T.I.M. had to stop himself from flinching at the accusation, knowing that he would need these two on his side if he was to bring humanity to its rightful place in the galaxy. 

“I am not hiding anything, Odysseus.” 

{Right,} Eris replied, drawing out the word sceptically. {Then, why would they attack a back-water world that just happens to have Ashley on it? Tell us the truth, Mr Illusive Man, did you or did you not have a hand in the Collectors targeting that Colony?} Eris asked coldly.

T.I.M. remained silent for a moment, knowing that if he was caught in this lie it would harm his plans for them greatly. Sipping his drink, he looked directly at Eris, hoping to convince her of his honesty even while he was lied straight to her. “Cerberus had no part in directing the next attack.” 

{Very well,} she said, still clearly not believing him fully. {But,} she continued, {if we find out that you have lied to us, you will find your groups on our hunting lists.} At that warning, T.I.M. forced himself to sit calmly, only nodding before disconnecting the call. 

Sitting alone in his station room he did something he had not done for several decades; he prayed. He prayed that the twins would not turn their predatory gaze towards his organisation. If they ever did, it would set his plans back months, perhaps even years. The Illusive Man took a long sip of his brandy as he began looking out at the stars already planning his next move.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins left the Comm room before switching to a closed channel as they headed up to the cockpit to inform Joker of the change in plans. {He’s lying to us again!} Demo snarled, fuming but keeping it well hidden behind his helmet in front of the crew. 

Eris nodded before sharing her own thoughts on the matter. {He lies to us every time we speak to us. When we eventually catch him in the act we can ruin his life. Until then, we wait and work our way into his network file by file.}

As they entered the CIC they stopped talking and switched back to their visors, greeting Kelly politely as they passed but moving swiftly through to the cockpit with Joker. {Joker, set course for Horizon. Make it fast. Ashley’s there and it’s the Collector’s next target,} Demo said and Joker smiled, plotting the fastest course possible before speaking to twins who were leaning over his chair and checking the read-outs on his console.

“Alright! We’re finally on our way to kick some Collector ass. You two kill a bunch and bring me back a souvenir. One each, hand-delivered, you hear?” he joked but the twins understood that he really meant come back alive.

{Don’t worry Jeff. We’ll be alright and I’ll bring you back the best I can find,} replied Eris, leaning over to lightly squeeze her friend before vanishing in a shimmer of light and heading off to alert Mordin and help finish the protections.

Demo set his hand firmly on Joker’s shoulder, giving a light squeeze before saying, {Yeah. I’ll even bring you back a jacket or maybe a collector gun just for you.} He vanished himself, heading off to inform the rest of the ground team and ready the engines for the possible combat situation.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In the cold reaches of space, a lone Geth ship waited, listening to the extranet news feeds from thousands of channels at once, the single mobile platform captaining the vessel sat, attached by data cables to the pilot’s seat as it watched the news looking for only one thing. It quickly came across hundreds of mentions of the Blue Demons reappearing after two years, followed quickly by the news buried in secure council files of the Shepard twin’s reinstatement as Spectres. At this the platform stopped for a few seconds, ensuring the data feed was genuine before redefining its search parameters. Soon, it found that the sightings mentioned recruiting notable individuals or seeking the Collectors before once again it now redefining its search. Once the Geth discovered the pattern of the attacks it began to calculate the next target and once located, the platform’s runtimes quickly reached consensus and altered course to head for the colony of Horizon, in search of Shepard-Captain and Shepard-Commander.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Ashley was working on figuring out why the targeting system was not working properly when a message came through her private terminal. Shifted her focus when she noticed that it was a black level message from the twins, she abandoned her work temporarily. 

‘Ashley, we hope this reaches you in time. The collectors are inbound to your location! We have altered course and should be there around the same time. Get ready and find somewhere secure and safe. Hold out until we get there. Protect the power station if you can without risking yourself. We need you alive for our hunt to succeed! Yours, Demo and Shadow.’ 

Ashley paled as she read the message before blurring into action. Running to her closet, she grabbed her heavier weapons and ammo before bolting out the door in her full hard suit. Right as she was about to try and raise the colony, a huge ship crashed through the atmosphere. Paling but not stopping, she ran even faster to the power generators, knowing that she could hold out there and understanding that the twins wanted the power station online when they got here. She barely managed to close the doors as the swarms launched throughout the colony before locking them and moving boxes and crates to give her better cover. Ashley sat down behind the new cover and prayed for the colonists and the twins’ swift arrival.


	13. legion

CHAPTER 13 - Shepard-Captain, Shepard-Commander

The lone Geth platform stood on a small hill overlooking the colony as its scanners gathered tactical data. After a few moments of absorbing data, it began to break the data down and make its decision. ‘Power plant protected by Alliance Marine Williams-Ashley, decision: no further protection needed. Colonist platforms being processed by collector platforms, decision: single mobile platform insufficient to make significant alteration to numbers of captured platforms. Anti-Aircraft turrets off-line; addendum: targeting program error detected in addition to off-line status; addendum: no life signs detected in tower, decision: single mobile platform sufficient to reactivate tower and repair programming error. Consensus achieved.’ With its thought process complete, taking no more than a single second, the platform switched to its stealth protocol and began moving to the tower. Its main goal was not the preservation of the colonists but the creation of perceived good will from the Shepard twins toward itself.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The twins opened the comm channel that had been agreed on for when they would finally meet up with Ashley. Now they had to hope that she was still alive and in possession of her comm unit. {Ashley do you read?} Demo called over the comm and after a few tense moments they heard the marine respond. 

“Demo that you? Thank god! Those bug things are crawling all over the place… Shit! Got to go skipper. The bugs are trying to get through the door! I’m in the power plant!” With that the comm fell silent. The twins glanced at each other before nodding and turning to the rest of the ground team. 

{All right, change of plan guys! Eris will lead a team to Ashley’s location while my team makes our way to the AA tower to show those bugs what those guns can do. Kasumi, Tali, Miranda and Mordin: with me on the tower team. Garrus, Jack, Zaeed and Grunt are with Eris. Jacob, remain here to cover our backs and to keep the ships warm in case we need to bug out fast,} Demo ordered calmly before Eris nodded and signalled her team to round up and move out, splitting up the group and heading to their destinations.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Ashley was barely holding out in the power station. The damn bugs seemed endless; wave after wave continuously trying to force their way into the room, just as she ran out of ammo she heard a roaring voice followed by a sickening crunch. “I AM KROGAN!” came the roar and the crunch came from said Krogan barrelling into a collector and crushing it flat. 

The Marine ducked into cover, searching for more ammo. ‘Where in god’s green earth did that guy come from?’ She mentally questioned, only to have her answer appear in the form of a pair of sniper wielding Humans, a biotic girl and a heavily scarred Turian. Climbing out to help the Krogan, she heard twin barks of sniper fire and watched as collector heads began vanishing in copper coloured explosions. ‘Eris and Garrus, I could kiss you!’ she thought gleefully as the old male human tossed spare thermal clips to her. Snapping in the clips, she began supplying cover fire for the Krogan and biotic female who were now wading through the swarm shotguns and biotics blazing respectively. The wave fell quickly and the team spared a few moments to radio Odysseus with a report before moving on. Introductions were made on the fly as the team moved to secure the facility once more in preparation for the next wave.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Samantha Traynor was running for her life. She didn’t dare risk even a glance over her shoulder to see how far behind her the swarm of insects and those humanoid flying monsters were. Rounding a corner and stumbling, Sam lost her momentum and was forced to start all over again. ‘This is it! I’m going to die here!’ was her panicked thought as she tried to regain her speed. So focused on the things chasing her, she missed the group in front of her until she was amongst them. A Salarian male snagged her wrist and used her momentum to pull Sam bodily to the ground in an arc as a man’s voice barked out orders.  
{Tali! Drones, now. Miranda, Kasumi! SMG on the flank!} The world finally stopped spinning for Sam as she watched a tall man and a quarian woman launch a pair of combat drones before focusing their own fire on the centre of the group. {Take their optics, Gizmo, take their optics!} 

{Go for the optics, Chatika, go for the optics!} encouraged the Quarian woman. The Salarian finished scanning her vitals and rose from cover to help the rest of his team. 

When the last creature eventually fell, the large human male, wearing, she noted with some curiosity, a purple lensed recon hood, came up to where she was sitting and knelt to her level before speaking, the Quarian female joining him. “Are you alright, Miss?” Sam nodded dumbly still in shock, before the man snapped his fingers in front of her eyes and brought her back to reality. “Miss! I know this must be very scary but I need you to answer some questions for me. Can you do that?” She nodded. If they needed information then she would gladly give them anything they wanted. Hell, they could ask to fuck her all night at this point and she would agree having seen the others being taken and not wanting to end up like that. “All right, here is how this will work. Kasumi will take you back to our LZ and keep you safe after we have the info we need, understood?”

“Y-Yes, sir! Whatever you need!” 

This got a short bark of laughter from the tall human and a slim Asian who had just come up to them. “Never make that kind of offer, lassie. Bad people might take you up on that,” was all he said before leaving the quarian to ask her questions. He walked away and Sam followed him out of the corner of her eye before he suddenly vanished in a shimmer of light, leaving Sam stunned and staring at the place he’d just been.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The Geth platform was working to restore the targeting program to full functionality when its external sensors registered the sounds of the Collector threat attempting to force the doors. Halting its work for a brief moment to patch itself into the secure channel used by Shepard-Captain, It rededicated a few of its runtimes to contacting Shepard-Captain whilst the rest continued the task at hand. {Shepard-Captain, requesting immediate assistance. Collectors attempting to force entry to AA tower defences. Cannot repel forces individually due to preforming repairs in order to bring AA towers online and repair damaged code in targeting systems.}

It was several seconds before the Captain responded. {Roger that. Already on route. ETA three minutes and counting. Will the doors hold until we arrive?} 

{Affirmative. Doors will hold for estimated duration of five solar minutes.} 

{Understood. You have ten minutes’ max to get the tower online and firing.} 

{Acknowledged.} With that all runtimes refocused on returning the towers to full functionality. After a few more moments of patching the code, the platform finished optimizing the program and began to bring the towers online and charging the power cells. The platform calculated the time to firing to be six solar minutes. The Shepard-Captain would need to repel the threat and hold the doors for at least six and a half minutes before the first retreat signal could be received by Collector forces.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Odysseus and his team dug in at the door of the tower. After a minute or two of gunfire, a Collector started glowing. Raised off the ground by an unseen force before it crashed back to the ground, it stood and spoke while firing some form of biotic attacks. “We are the harbinger of your ascension. Do not resist, Odysseus. It will only bring you pain.” 

Odysseus felt a chill run down his spine at the voice, eerily similar to that of sovereign. A blast or two from his modified Viper to the bastard’s head ended him, or so Odysseus thought. The entity simply hopped to a new collector.

{Not fair! When I kill something, I expect it to stay dead for at least a day!} he snapped as he shot the head off of a third ‘harbinger.’ Just as the body turned into a pile of ash the air vibrated with the sound wave emitted by the newly repaired AA towers firing into the side of the Collector ship. After a few more minutes of fighting the massive ship retreated. His team watched the retreating ship, the other team arriving a few moments later with Kasumi on their heels.

Tali watched as her mate examined the AA Tower’s doors, trying to determine if they were stuck or if there was another reason that the person inside had yet to leave. After a few moments he returned to her side, unconsciously wrapping an arm around her waist as the other rose for an attempt to contact the person inside, only for the door to open and a battered-looking Geth platform to stride out. Tali reacted swiftly, drawing her shotgun and preparing to aim.  
{Hold your fire!}

{What! That’s a Geth, Demo! You can’t be serious!} Tali asked, shocked and angry.

Demo only shook his head before calling to the Geth, {Platform! Why are you here?} At that Tali believed that Demo had finally lost his mind. He knew as well as she did that Geth couldn’t speak.

{This platform was sent to locate Shepard-Captain and Shepard-Commander. We have searched for two point five years for the Shepard twins’ locations.}

Tali was shocked and, glancing around, it appeared that she wasn’t the only one. Eris stepped forward and any hopes of bringing sanity back into Tali’s day were lost.

Garrus was trying to hold Eris back when she side-stepped slipped out of his grasp. As she spoke to the Geth platform, he was shocked by how calm the twins were being.

{It was our understanding,} began Eris using the same polite tone as Demo. Tali gasped, {that the Geth desired to be left alone to build their future. After the fall of Sovereign we believed this to include halting any movement of mobile platforms outside of Geth space. What has changed in the consensus since then?}

‘Ok,’ thought Garrus as he watched, ‘This must be another one of those things from a mission that never happened.’

{The Shepard’s oppose the Old Machines; they oppose the Heretics. The Geth oppose the Old Machines; the Geth oppose the Heretics,} the Geth stated monotonously. Garrus tuned back into the conversation listened in horror as the twins welcomed the Geth platform onto their crew. At this point Tali had reverted from muttering to quietly grumbling and ignoring Demo. When the twins offered an alliance the only sound from the group surrounding the twins was that of the colonist woman hitting the ground as she fainted.


	14. the aftermath: another secret revealed.

Ch.14 the aftermath 

The group left Ashley behind with her new mission of delivering some data for the twins and beginning the prep for when the twins turned themselves in, the colonist that Kasumi had been protecting woke up before they left and traded contact data with Kasumi. As the group headed to their ships Demo and Eris slipped next to Kasumi and began teasing her with the geth following just behind them. {So Kas you got her number, just make sure you wait three days or you will seem desperate.} Eris teased in a sing song voice while Demo nodded sagely before adding in his two cents. {Yeah and don’t forget to use protection and if you use handcuffs use the furry kind, best go with pink she looks like a pink kind of girl!} at this point Kasumi was blushing hard as this happened every time the twins saw her displaying interest in someone, she knew that they were joking and trying to put her at ease as the pair would kill for her it was just so embarrassing how they carried on. The rest of the group watched the trio banter with the geth following like a puppy just a few steps behind the trio, they were all silent as they were having trouble accepting that the twins were trusting a geth so easily.

When everyone gathered in the comm room around the large table with the twins and the geth at its head the twins spoke. {All right people I know that everyone wants to know why we are trusting a geth that we just met, especially given Eris’s and mine history with the race.} at that statement the group nodded so Eris stepped forward to speak. {The reason is simple better the devil we know than the devil we don’t, also between Demo and Tali there is no one who knows Geth programming better. We also are trying to see if peace between the Geth and Quarian can be made as the war has gone on long enough and as this platform said the reapers are a threat to them as well, so in the words of our old friend Wrex ‘seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend.’ Because of this we will be working with this platform.} Jack started nodding along with the other trigger happy ground team crew members, seeing the others still looked uneasy Demo stepped in again to deliver the nail in the coffin. {The geth platform will not be allowed access to the network of the ship except under carefully observed instances in which it will only be given access to only the functions it needs and nothing more, and if it tries anything I will personally take it apart and make a toaster out of it.} 

The group nodded and Jack asked something that was on all of their minds. “What the fuck do we call the tin can?” She said jerking a thumb at the geth that just raised an eyebrow plate at her before speaking. [we are geth and geth are made from a composite alloy not tin nor are the geth cans.] Odysseus face palmed while Eris sighed heavily both of the twins feeling the day now. “I am legion for I am many.” Edi said and the group along with the now named legion agreed to the named, after covering the rest of the debrief the ground team went to hit the showers while Legion moved to the AI core. {Garrus, Tali come with us please.} Odysseus said before they could leave the room, the pair nodded and fell in step with their mates but both were unhappy and knew that the twins were hiding something. The reasons they gave were sound but given the way the twins had been raise neither of the dextros believed those were the only reasons.

Eris followed Demo into his room with her mate and Tali on their heels, she started wringing her fingers together in a Quarian taught trait of nervousness. What they were about to do broke some many laws and regulations it was nowhere near funny. At Odysseus’s signal they all turned their Omni-tools off and Eris powered up the jamming field in the center of the room as they all took seats, Demo sat on the bed and pulled Tali into his lap before hugging her to him tightly and Garrus settled on the couch and Eris burrowed into his lap clinging tightly. Both of the dextros noticed the twins’ nervous behavior and react subconsciously by trying to comfort them despite beginning annoyed at them. 

Odysseus began slowly while praying to the ancestors Tali would not hate him for what he was about to reveal. {What we are about to tell you breaks some many laws and contracts and regulations you could not begin to count them all, when we entered our relationships we made it clear that we would need to keep secrets from you guys.} He reminded them and they both nodded but before the twins could move on Garrus interjected. “You two also swore that if something involving the secrets came up you would tell us the that was secret involved, is that what this is?” Garrus did not sound mad more annoyed than anything else, both Tali and him knew when they became serious with the twins that there were things in their past they either could not talk about or just wanted desperately to forget about. {Yes, it is, I am sorry my sweet fang.} Eris’s small voice came from where she had tucked her face in his cowl, but of the twins could not stand having to lie to the loves of their lives but it was for their own protection.

Eris listen while Odysseus spoke as he was the one who on that mission had been in charge. {Several years ago about three and a half years before Saren attacked Eden prime Eris and I were selected for a mission that to this day the alliance will deny every happened and if it came to light about what we did the council would kill us if the alliance did not do it first.} Eris felt Garrus tense under her at the words and she wished she could comfort him but she could not think of anything that would help him deal with what he was about to learn. {Due to our up bringing and massive amount of black ops work we were the best for the job, the missions was simple but very dangerous. We were to take a specially designed ship and enter Geth space and make peaceful contact.} the twins at this point stopped for a moment to let their mates digest this.

Tali was stunned about what had been just revealed, Odysseus and Eris had gone behind the veil and if what she was thinking was true the pair had made peaceful contact with a race that had nearly wiped out her race and had attacked everything that had come through since except for sovereign. {We made contact and began learning from the geth, in fact the suit mod I made, the starting data and programming framework came as a gift from the Geth. But why we trust this platform is that we know that the Geth don’t lie and that they only want to be left alone to build their future. They also showed us their side of what they called the morning war, the conflict between Geth and their creators was not organics versus machines it was Quarian versus Quarian in regards to how to deal with the geth. The geth only fought back at the start to save their creators who were fighting to save them.} Tali listened and was shocked to hear the Geth’s side of the story she had never even thought about whether or not other Quarians fought against their own people in that war. The talks moved on for a bit until the twins finished and waited for their mates’ reactions.

Garrus looked down at Eris before gently using a claw to raise her face to look at him as he touched foreheads with her and whispered gently, while he gently caressed her back soothing her. “Calm my dear Cori I am not mad or hurt I knew there would be things you could not tell me when we began, I was just upset that you seemed so quick to trust an old enemy.” Once she relaxed a bit more he picked her up and gently carried her to their room leaving Demo and Tali alone. {Demo I cannot say I am happy about learning you have set foot on my home world and did not tell me, but I understand why you did what you did and I guess we Quarian owe the Geth and you for the program, Just promise me that there is nothing else involving the Geth or my people you are hiding from me.} Tali had tried to be mad but give all that Odysseus had done for her and her race who he considered his own as could not be mad at him for this. {I promise you my dear Aingeal that was the only thing involving your people that I hid from you.} Demo swore before gently pulling back on the bed and beginning to strip her to help calm both of their souls by reminding each other about how much they care for each other. In the other cabin Garrus and Eris were doing the same thing, in the middle of the night three messages appeared in the inbox. One from Tim with the next batch of files while the Second one came from a ghost of the twins past calling for help once more, the last one was a cry for help for Tali from her old squad mates.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings my loving readers
> 
> I am back from the grave! But seriously, I am back to write this series to the finish. I have no plans to give this one up any time soon!

Ch.15 favors owed.

Kelly waited for the ground crew to start their training session in the cargo bay before she moved forward on the CIC deck to the helm of the ship slipping as casually as she could into the co-pilot chair, TIM had told her that he was unhappy with her progress in learning to understand the twins and so here she was about to do something that made her unhappy. 

“Joker I was wondering if I could talk to you if you are not busy?” Kelly asked thanking her stars that he did not notice the shake in her voice, she hated this but she knew that if she did not begin understanding the twins enough to satisfy TIM she would be replaced next time they docked and she would most likely disappear. 

“Sure Kelly what’s up?” Joker asked smiling lightly at her before returning to over looking the controls. “I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Eris and Odysseus?” Kelly did not miss the tension that came over Joker the moment her question was voice.  
Joker forced himself to calm down before slowly reaching over as casually and flipping a switch under his controls looking as if it was just part of another minor adjustment he was making to get the most out of the ship, feeling the slight buzz against his fingers to indicate that the camera’s and mics were now recording he spoke carefully.

“Sure, what do you want to know?” Kelly heaved a silent sigh at his open response, before moving on to her first and most important question. 

“What did the twins do in the alliance? I have never found anything that says what their roles were.” 

“Can’t tell you that Kelly, even I don’t know that Demo and Eris always kept work details out of our talks.” 

“Okay then do you-”

“Kelly before we force this joke on any longer I will tell you this, I owe a lot to the twins and I would never betray their trust so if you are asking for TIM’s sake they get the fuck out of that chair and leave now!” Kelly shocked by the pure venom in Joker’s voice, she would normally leave at that point but her boss had made it clear that the lack of information they had needed to be fixed soon or she would be gone.

“Please Joker! I need this you have to understand please!” Joker looked at her hand that she had placed on his arm before sighing and grabbing her hand and pushing it off him. 

Kelly walked away and into the washrooms looking like she was going to cry, when she entered into a empty stall she opened her hand a read the note inside. ‘Meet the twin’s in their common room at 2300 hours tonight, sallow this message after reading it.’ Kelly what the twins would do to her. 

Tali rode the elevator with the rest of the ground team to the CIC deck having just finished their shower time after the training, the twins made the ground agents work together in different groups using holo projectors to allow the groups to train together under controlled conditions. This had been the first session with Legion and Tali found herself impressed by the Geth’s skill and openness while working together, one thing she found slightly unnerving was the fact that Demo had placed Legion on his squad and even put him to work in the engine bay that had been the cause of an argument between the two engineers.

{DEMO! Why are you putting that things in the engine bay with me?!} Tali cried as she held out the data-pad that had the new roster for the engine bay, which now listed Legion as her lieutenant and work several shifts with her.  
{Tali lower you voice please you are going to give both of us a feedback screech, and as to why I put Legion on the engine team is it was the wisest choice.} Demo said trying to pull her down to sit in his lap on the coach while in the background the other twin and her mate quickly ran to their own room.

Tali pulled out of his reach and crossed her arms glaring at her mate without her mask on as she always while on the first Deck. Odysseus sighed before removing his visor and placing it gently on the table in front of him before looking into his mate’s purple eyes.   
{Anigeal I know that you don’t trust the geth or any AIs for that matter and I understand even I hate most AIs. But this hate between our groups has gone on long enough.} Demo said in a tired voice that Tali almost falter in her anger out of concern, her heart had more than his fair share of burdens on his shoulders but Tali could not just lay down and die of this.

{Anigeal the reason I trust Legion is that while on Rannoch learning from about the Geth they let me see their side of what they called the dawning war.} Tali’s jaw dropped at the reveal the twins had not said they had been to the homeworld.   
{the geth drove us form the homeworld they nearly destroyed our people.} 

{Yes but Tali at first it was Quarian against Quarian the world only ended when the geth sought to stop the mindless fighting between the groups, one group wanted the geth destroyed the others wanted to teach them saying they made their bed and now they had to lay in it. Also they could have easily wiped out the entire race of Quarian’s but they could not see what that would do so they settled for forcing you to leave, the Geth told us that they just want peace that is why I am assigning Legion to the bay to show you and the other Quarian’s that if you just put aside this old war that no one will win then you might be able to return home in peace.} After that statement Demo just put his head in his hands and sighed again clearly tired, Tali move to sit beside him and hugged him gently. 

{I will work with Legion Demo for you.}

{Thank you my heart I know this hurts you and I am sorry but a little pain now will be worth it in the long run I promise.} 

{I believe you but you could help make me feel better about it all.} She whispered before pulling him into their room.

The group entered the Comm room and arranged themselves as usual with the twins at the head of the table facing the door with their mates at their sides, the squads broke out on each side from there with the more tech focused team on the right side and the heavy squad on the left.

{Alright the next mission is a bit of a side track, Tali received a destress signal from her old squad mates so we are currently on route to deal with that. This will also help serve as a train mission of sorts to ensure that the new squad set up works with our newest member, after that we will be on route to the planet where the next two members on our recruitment list are going to be any questions?} seeing none Eris stepped up to go over that mornings training results and the meeting passed fairly quickly after that, the meeting was used to go over any problems that arose during the training session and deal with them before they became a problem in field where it could result in death.

Kelly took the elevator up to the cabin at the appointed hour, the entire ride she was nervous as she had no clue what to except as Joker was tight lipped around her after that. She left the elevator and signaled at the buzzer when the door opened she entered looking around and only saw Garrus and Tali sitting on the couch, the door closed behind her and she saw a pair of shimmers as the twins shed their cloak that they almost never dropped while outside their rooms.

{Turn off your Omni-tool and have a seat Kelly we just want to talk for now.} Eris said and Kelly did as she was told sitting as far from the twins as possible even knowing that would not save her if they wanted her dead, a blue field shimmered for a moment before vanishing and the sound of ships vanished with it. 

{Now Kelly Joker told us that you mentioned TIM was forcing you to dig for information why?} Demo said and Kelly swallowed from nerves, before steeling herself and looking at the pair who now held her life in their hands.

{Cerberus can find almost nothing on the two of you and I was hired to help ease your transition back to life but also to try and make you see that Cerberus was not evil and convince you to join.} a sharp and bark of laughter from the twins made Kelly cringe as there was no warmth in that laugh.

{Kelly any chance of Odysseus and I working for or with Cerberus beyond this mission vanished the moment those monsters attacked the fleet, we have not really thought of ourselves as members of the human race in years we have always thought of ourselves as members of the fleet.} Kelly listened with horror at Eris’s words as she basically just sighed Kelly’s death warrant.

{Kelly trust us when we say that you have no idea just how bad they really are, the entire crew of the Normandy minus Jacob and Miranda were brought in form the outside to put us at ease.} Demo said passing Kelly a data-pad gesturing for her to read it, by the time she finished reading it she felt sick and wanted to throw up then scrub her skin off for ever being a part of Cerberus. 

{Yeah there is even more of that shit and some of it is bad enough that it even made Eris and I ill just reading it, but we now know that you understand what is really going on so just make sure you never leave the ship without one of us four and we will keep you safe until the mission is over when we will broker a deal for you with the alliance if you testify about them.} Kelly nodded and Demo smiled before helping her stand and walking her to the elevator, as she got in Demo stopped her and told her one last thing. 

{Kelly you are part of our crew and that means you are under our protection, and don’t be to hard on Jeff he was doing what we asked him to do. He has always been good at judging people so we asked him to screen the bridge crew and he told us that you were probably the only one with an axe hanging over you head so we have been watching and waiting for you to make your move so we could confirm the axe before offering safety, I hope you understand.} Kelly nodded before heading down to her bunk and feeling better than she had in days, the twins in the deck above went into their rooms to unwind with their lovers.


	16. Chapter 16

   
CH.16 Haestrom: Save The Friend 

Lee’San was mentally kicking herself as she rushed to get the data downloaded, what had started as a simple stealth op for gathering data had quickly turned into a blood bath as the geth cornered them. Now she was cursing herself for the moment of weakness that had led her to sending a destress signal to Tali and possibly drawing her best friend to her death, a blast shook the bunker as the marines outside fought against the geth trying to prevent the geth from entering the bunker. Just as she finished downloading the first of three sections that needed downloading she heard something over the comms that made her choke up and wipe her eyes (the group in the bunker had adapted to the air thanks to the suit fixes.).

{Attention Quarian marine forces this is Captain Odysseus Shepard we are inbound and bringing in reinforcements. I repeat we are bringing reinforcements and aid just hold tight and survive we will be there soon!} the strange voice called over the comms and the others in the bunker cheered at the news. 

‘Get here soon Tali! Otherwise you might only find corpses.’ Lee thought as the bunker shook with the force of another blast.

Tali followed behind Demo on his right with Legion following on his right with Eris’s squad in front of them, when they encountered Geth platforms Tali tensed waiting for Legion to turn on them but it never came as there was no hesitation when Legion opened fire with it’s sniper rifle and began taking out targets just as fast as the twins. They quickly were road blocked by the fall of a pillar that narrowly avoided crushing a group of wounded quarians, While Eris and Mordin attended to the injured marines Demo and Legion to break down the Geth to make bombs large enough to blow the pillar while the second in commands fought to keep the active Geth of the twins. A fire in the hole sounded as the pair of bomb experts finished and the teams made for cover in time to watch the pillar vanish in a series of blast the replace the large stone with just a pile of rumble.

Kal’Reegar Crouched behind a wall cursing as his wound was aggravated by a blast hitting the wall he was hiding behind, Kal was about to spring up to launch another missile at the armature when another Geth rounded the half wall and started to line up a shot on him. Before Kal could even start to respond the Geth’s shell was torn apart by four sniper shots that impacted at the same time, Kal whirled around to find the shooters and saw to his shock Tali’Zorah and a group of others including a Geth that had a chunk on N7 armor welded to its chest.  
{Kal! I am glad to see your safe!} Tali cried as she got to cover beside him.

{Tali! There is a geth right behind you!} He warned but another voice cut in. 

{Stand down Marnie this Geth is peaceful, an ambassador of good will to My twin and I in our mission.} Kal’Reegar looked for the source of the voice and saw a pair that he had not seen in some time, the twins crouched in front of him the armor was now a quarian engineer style with war face plates that the slits glowed crimson for Demo and Green for Eris. 

{Good to see you again Kal!} Eris said happily as another blast went off. 

{We will play catch-up when the others are safe, Kal stand down and let Mordin tend to you wounds and our teams will deal with the Geth.} Demo barked voice cold and hard making Kal stand down before he even tried to fight.

Tali watched as Demo and Eris vanished in a shimmer of light after leaving orders with their seconds to take the teams down the side paths with the heavy team on the right while the tech team on the left with the Cerberus pair safe guarding the injured and Mordin. The twins could be seen from time to time as the advanced down the center path cloaked harrying smaller geth troops. Tali and Legion both launched their drones to fight the geth while on the other side Garrus was having the teams leapfrog from cover to cover in pairs as the other pair covered them. Once everyone was in position across the area the twins ordered an overload barrage on the Armature and as soon as the shields dropped the heavies unloaded their largest guns into the Geth until it exploded in a very large firework display.

Lee heard that largest blast yet and prayed that Kal was not dead as they had just linked suits before the mission, a common signal came in and Lee answered it.{Lee are you there?}

{Tali is that you?} Lee was shocked to hear her friends voice.

{yes, it is me the geth are dealt with can you open the bunker?} came the static filled reply

{Sure, just let us get our masks back on then open the door.} Lee said and signaled the others to get their masks on and pack up, when she opened the doors a group entered with a geth on their heels and after a quick showdown the Quarians stood down and Lee tackled Tali in a tight hug nearly sobbing in relief to see her friend alive. 

Tali hugged her friend back just a tightly as she had been nearly sick with worry when she first got the message. {If you to keep pawing at each other then I may start to get jealous or ask to join in!} 

Lee jumped at the voice whispering in her main mic pic up that had her leaping out of Tali’s arms with a very cute squeak, a pair of figures appeared in a shimmer of light and Tali just sighed. {Oh that was really cute! Tali can we ask her to join us for just one night at least! I mean your beauty and her cuteness and my roguish charm I am sure it would be a night to remember!} 

Tali blushed at the teasing tone her Mate was using while Lee showed every sign of blushing as well, Kal’Reegar limped in at that point. {Sorry demo she is already claimed and you know I don’t share sir.} 

{How sad oh well I am not sure I would have been able to handle it, I mean Anigeal is enough for me. I was asking to help broaden her horizons that’s all.} Eris laughed at the sigh Tali and Kal did at the same time.

Garrus watched how at ease the twins seemed speaking with the other suited beings and that just droved home the point that the twins were more Quarian than human in their minds. Eris vanished and reappear wrapping her arms around him looking up at him.   
{What is making you look so thoughtful Sweet fang?} Eris purred at him making Garrus’s instincts rear their head and wrap his arms around her possessively. 

“Just thinking how much more at ease you seem with Quarians than humans.” He said rubbing her back as the groups started to break up as the Quarians needed to report back soon. 

{They have been our family since we were young I mean if you look at our marriage forms from the Quarians it has a different name than the alliance forms since we have different names there.} Garrus rumbled in agreement as he could not respond as Eris was beginning to rub her fingers across his hips as the twins liked to work of stress after a mission.

The next morning saw the Normandy on route to Illium, with the ship on auto-pilot the twins took the chance to unwind with their friends on board. The twins and their mates sat with Joker and Kasumi playing poker in the room where Kasumi had made hers, Garrus was losing and Kasumi was the one winning. 

{Wow Demo I never thought I would see you losing in poker!} Tali joked and Joker laughed. 

“You should play with their parents they are even better that Kasumi and that is saying something!” The group laughed and Garrus decided to ask something about the next two they were going to fetch as the twins had been oddly mute on the subject. 

“So what do you two know about the pair we are going to fetch?” Garrus asked the twins and they shared a look that once more convinced Garrus that the twins could read each others mind.

{Well I know Thane Krios personally he was something of a rival of mine back in the day.} Eris said casually and that made Garrus’s brow plates rise in shock as he knew that Krios was one of the best and that Eris was feared across the galaxy so to hear her praising another was strange as she hated most assassins. 

{Yeah the guy has a morale code that is interesting and he was very good even gave me a run for my money.} Demo broke in to explain the second one. {This justicar is a worrying one as if we don’t get a vow of loyalty it will get ugly fast.}   
at this Joker looked up. “What did you two do to this person?” 

{Nothing to her personally but her order has a very strict code on how to deal with life and lets just say that the last time we clashed with their order it end badly.} Kasumi raised an eyebrow at that knowing that with the twins it could mean anything from the twins got rejected on an advance or as bad as they left the body in the ditch of a slum, and knowing the twins it was a toss up for it but the talks moved on to place seen and Kasumi guessed she would find out when they met this person.


	17. Samara?

Ch.17 Justice and Honour 

Tali watched her mate and his sister become more tense the closer to the justicar they got, the twins had finally revealed that the last time they had met up with a member of this order the member ended up working for Aria as a stripper to pay off her life debt. Thus the twins were nervous about meeting another member.

“Hey sis how exactly did you two get a Justicar stuck as a stripper for Aria?” Kasumi asked as they stopped to rest and look over some files they had hacked into.

“We asked Aria to take her off out hands after we saved her life and Aria had no need for another guard so she ended up a stripper, the last time before we were there before our death we each got a lap dance for her, the hatred in her eyes was worth the price!” Demo answered and Tali tried to feel bad for the Asari but she had been told that the reason the twins had come into conflict with the woman was that she had been hunting them to kill the demons.

A scream stopped any talk as a merc flew through the air before crashing into a stack of crates, from where the merc and been thrown a tall asari appeared pausing to look at the merc before leaping down using biotics to slow her descent. Tali watched in horror as the Asari questioned then killed the merc brutally with a stomp, Tali had seen her mate and Shadow torture people but only those who deserved it and this merc had seemed to be just doing her job. The tension rolling off of the twins made Tali take a half-step back as gone where Odysseus and Eris her dear ones and in their place was Demo and Shadow the blue demons who struck fear in many people’s hearts.

{That was not needed, that person had no outstanding bounties and she was only doing her job.} Demo stated his voice cold and hard as the woman approached.

{Also you could barely call that questioning, that was sloppy you made it clear from the start that she would die anyway so why would she have betrayed her boss if she was going to die anyway?} Shadow growled at the woman, the asari looked at them before speaking.

“Coming from the blue demons that rings hollow as how many have you killed in cold blood?” Came the arrogant reply, Tali bristled at the remark but before she could say anything she felt Demo’s hand on her shoulder holding her back.

{We do not kill wastefully like your order, but we are not here to discuss morals we need you for a mission. We are hunting the collectors who are targeting human colonies.} Shadow explained.

At that moment the Asari police chief arrived and informed them about her new orders, after speaking the twins questioned the Justicar on just what she was looking for from the mercs. The woman revealed that she was hunting a dangerous criminal who was still on planet but could leave at anytime so she must find her before that happens or at least find out the ship name, Demo offered to look into in exchange for the Justicar swearing loyalty and joining their mission. The woman agreed and the group left but the twins quickly pulled them into a side alleyway, the group had come very small only the twins, Kasumi and their mates.

Demo pulled out a jamming beacon and powered it up before pulling his Omni-tool out to place a call to someone, He explained that they had a message from an old friend that might be linked to this case and if it was true then the deal with the Justicar might change.

________________________________________

Morinth sat lounging in her small but comfortable apartment, most of it packed away as her bitch of a mother had caught her scent again so soon she would have to move, she was wishing that she could see the twins again before she had to go to ground for a while. The twins had first met her on one of their many hunts for the alliance and had hired her because of her talents as an Ardat-Yakshi to assist in killing a powerful drug lord, the twins had arranged for her to become the drug lords in favourite stripper and once she had in a room for a private dance she had killed him and the twins helped her get out. After that she had been hired many times by the twins and soon became good friends.

Her Omni-tool buzzed and a glance mind her think of an old saying Demo had taught her, ‘Speak of the devil and he shall appear.’ She pushed the accept button and the visor covered face of Demo appeared. {Morinth your mother is here on planet.} came the strange burred voice. ‘never one to talk circles.’ Morinth thought.

“I am aware, but how do you know?” She asked knowing that the twins would not just call her for that, they would have just messaged her unless they wanted something from her.

{we were told to recruit your mother for a mission and she wants you found first, but if you are willing to join us on our little suicide mission then…} Demo left the rest implied as he sent a data packet briefing her on the mission.

After looking over the mission specs she knew why they were calling it a suicide mission, however she knew that if she refused that put the twins in the position of hunting one of their friends and contacts and while it would hurt for them to do it she knew they would kill her for their mission was too important. There was another side to think about, she had never been able to beat her mother on her own as they were to evenly matched but the twins were masters of killing, she knew of at least four asari matriarchs that owed their deaths to Shadow and another two to Demo and that was only the ones she knew about.

“Get rid of my mother permanently and I will meet you at your docking bay in six hours, I have to make arrangements for my belongings to be put into storage.” She said and she could hear the smirk in Demo’s response.

{Six hours to kill a Justicar, you give us a lot of credit my dear. But don’t worry it will be done by the time you reach our bay.} with that the male human ended the call leaving Morinth smiling like a cat that got the cream at the idea of working with the artists so beautiful she would never consider killing until they were old and asked for it.

________________________________________

Samara watched the five beings enter the station after only an hour on their hunt, but given what the order knew of the demons this was not surprising truly. The male spoke with the captain handing over some data regarding some crimes committed in the area, the female demons was working on something in her hands. Looking closer she saw it was the hilt of a collapsible molecule sword, the skill with which she tuned the blade impressed Samara, she was broken out of her thoughts by the male saying he had a lead.

{We know where she is and know a route to get right on top of her unnoticed, are you ready to leave?} Samara was impressed by how calmly the twin demons were about hunting an Ardat-Yakshi, nodding she gestured for them to lead the way.

As they neared the location the man called Demo vanished in a shimmer of light as he left to scout ahead and ensure that the target did not leave, they neared the area when the man appeared again. After a quick conference with his twin it was decided that it would be best if Shadow and herself went alone to maximized the chances of catching Morinth off guard, she entered the room ahead of the woman and heard the door slam closed and locked. 

{Sorry Samara but as my brother likes to say, ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t.’ meaning we chose our friend Morinth over you.} the cold words washed over Samara as she whipped around to find Shadow standing sword drawn, the moment she turned another sword was tossed to her.

{We respect your order even if it has tried and failed to kill us before, so in honour of that we will let you die in a duel rather than shot in the back in betrayal.} Samara glared at the small woman who was foolish enough to challenge her.

Not bothering to try and reason with the twins she threw out a warp at the woman hoping to end this quickly and escape before the rest of the group could enter and kill her, but the warp missed as the woman was no longer there. A light blue blur streaked towards her and Samara swung the sword down in a vicious slash only to met empty air as the woman slide around her countering with her own slash that Samara tried to dodge but only lessened the blow, the wound now bleeding heavily as it was deep and even worse was the fact that it had cut into her calf.

Shadow prowled just outside of her blades reach watching for an opening, Samara briefly considered reaching for her pistol but a small shimmer tolled that to use anything but dueling weapons would result in her death by sniper fire before she could move. The flicker of finding the sniper had created a small opening that had Shadow in side her reach and dagger sliding into her kidneys, before she could some much as flinch the wisp of a woman danced back out of her reach and simply watched the dying Asari. When she fell to her knees as her strength fail her she felt a pair of warm hands cup her head and the whispered words that followed filled her last thoughts with dread before they vanished in a burning wave of bliss.

[Embrace entirety mother.] Morinth whispered as Samara looked in horror into her daughter’s black eyes.

________________________________________

Morinth settled on the couch with the twins opposite her and thanked them for their help, they nodded and laid down some ground rules the main one that their mates and themselves were of limits. They made it clear if she even tried anything one either mate she would find herself under the tender care of Eris as she studied Asari grey matter while she was still alive, she was also to report to the ship Salarian who wanted to study her condition. She agreed and the pair left to unwind they said and Samara knew that would be sex then they would spend an hour watching a holo motion image of a star dying to ground them, just another thing that made her like them as their love of passion and the beauty of destruction. 


	18. Thane

Ch.18 Demons return to their roots.

Odysseus climbed the steps leading to Liara’s office, the team had been kept small this time only the twins and their mates as they were the only ground team members from the first Normandy. They let themselves in, as the assistant was dead by Eris’s hand after Demo finished hacking for Liara, Liara smiled brightly when the group entered the room.

“Demo, Shadow, Tali, Garrus I heard that your recruitment mission did not go as planned.” Liara joked.

{Yeah, we got an upgrade for the low cost of killing someone who would have come to hunt us in time, but sadly we are here on business.} Demo joked and Liara’s expression change to a business one and gestured for them to sit.

“I have been tracking Krios as you asked, and he plans to strike tonight after that I can find no plans.” Liara said and Eris frowned.

{That does not sound like thane, he has always had an escape route lined up.} Eris said confused.

“Well his wife has been dead for some time now maybe he is planning on let the fates decide if he makes it out or not, I mean look at what happened to me.” Garrus said and before anyone could respond Eris whirled out of her chair and slapped him.

{I remember! And if you ever do something that stupid again I will drag you back from death just to kill you myself!} Eris screamed at the turian, Garrus looked for help but found nothing.

Tali watched garrus with pity while Demo watched calmly as he had know this was coming, Odysseus had know Eris was stewing this over waiting for a proper chance to bring up her hate over what Garrus had done.

{Garrus if I ever die again and you remain then I don’t want you doing something that stupid like that again, you will live for me and go on to make the world brighter not launch a suicide mission like that! Are we clear?!} Eris had turned off her visor and was glaring into Garrus’s eyes.

Demo watched Garrus pale and swear that he would obey that wish, Eris calmly switched he visor back on before crawling into her mate’s lap and looking calmly at Liara as if she had not just been a hair away from killing her own mate.

________________________________________

Thane Krios moved silently between skyscrapers as he approached his target the joined joins owned by his mark, this mission was to be his last with the sickness in his lungs growing worse he did not have many years left in this world. Not that it mattered anymore with his wife dead and his son lost to him for some time along with the lack of his once rival and friend there was not much left in this life for him, so his soul slept while his body worked to repent by removing evil from the universe.

He entered the building and began moving his way through the air ducts stopping only to assist those innocent workers who were trying to flee their crazed boss. As he climbed ever higher from within the ducts he began to hear chatter over a radio that he had taken off a guard that made him pause to listen.

“What do you mean that there is something outside killing my guards?” his mark screamed into the radio.

“I don’t know all I heard was Wilhelm screaming as he flew off his perch!” the guard said panic in his voice before there was a wet sound that thane knew to be a human choking on their own blood.

“What is going on… Answer me this instance!” his mark screamed but there was only the sound of a thud then nothing.

‘Another is approaching my target!’ Thane’s soul stirred for the first time in over a year at the thought of someone beating him to his mark.

Thane began to move faster knowing that he was at the disadvantage of having to climb further as he was on the inside, where the other assassin was climbing outside up the walls by the reports. A far more risking method but certainly faster, only one thing bothered thane was the fact that no one seemed to get even a glimpse of the killers. To Thane that meant one of two thins, one being that whoever was killing was fast enough to kill and move on before being seen but that was unlikely given the why the outside was set up. the second option sounded more likely but much harder equipment wise, it would mean that whoever was climbing was climbing cloaked the entire time. Either way thane knew he had to push himself faster if he was gong to reach the mark first.

When reports of sniper fire began while the blood choking death sounds still appeared Thane knew he was in fact dealing with at least two killers who were both cloaked! This made him being to take riskier paths and chances to stay ahead of the pair, he entered the shaft that would lead him to a spot directly over the mark’s desk space. As he approached the space he began hearing reports of deaths from within the building that were no his, that could only mean his rivals had entered the building and were planning a direct confrontation. 

________________________________________

Shadow climbed up to the next guarded perch slipping in behind the man without a sound before driving her assassin’s sword in his back piercing several vital organs. Once he dropped she began climbing again, a moment later she heard silenced sniper fire coming from directly below her as her brother settled in to kill the next way of perches that he could reach from the spot. The system they were using made the climb on the last part faster as Demo would clear the upper sections of the tower they would have to cross over to before they ever reached it allowing them to make up lost time, the hardest part was climbing while cloaked as they would only be able to see an outline of their body with no depth what so ever.

Demo called to her over their personal channel. {Remind me why we thought this was a good idea?} 

{Because we need to keep our skills sharp and I have been dying for a rematch with thane since my last hunt against him!} She said cheerfully as she pushed a guard off the balcony enjoying the scream the man with a death bounty on his head made. 

{I really want to grab a radio and say hi, we both know that Thane has stolen one.} Demo grouched as she heard him grunt signaling that he was scaling again, as the faster of the pair Demo was sniping as he would be able to keep pace with her while still sniping.

{Because then we get hit harder and that slows us down, and I am not losing to him two times in a row!} Eris snapped her pride was on the line and that made her want to win more.

When they finished crossing the bridge and scaling a few more levels up the side Eris signaled Demo to being breaching, she moved up a few floors as her twin placed a special mine he made just for this kind of thing. There was a dull thud before the glass shattered but did not fall as it was now trapped in an mass effect field that was spread out then shifted to make a door way, once they were in and a fair distance Demo hit a second button on his detonator that caused the mine to explode loudly drawing the attention away from their location.  
As they raced through the building cloaked they waste as little time as possible, only killing those who were in their way normally they would avoid killing but these guards helped in the slaughter of workers who had done nothing. When the demons reach the final door, they pulled their recon hoods off and pulled out a pair of masks that had been updated, they slipped them on and pulled their hoods up and entered the room to confront the mark.

________________________________________

They reached the air duct vent opening into to hear his mark speak. “You! But you two died I know I paid a large amount to confirm you bastards deaths!”

Thane crawled forward to get into position and saw to his shock his long time rival back from the grave, her brother stood next to her casually holding his high-power shotgun. Before Thane could fully come to terms with what he was seeing his mark spoke again.  
“Why are you two here, whatever your bosses are paying you I will triple it!” the asari woman begged, but Shadow only laughed and that laugh was all Thane needed to know that she was the real shadow.

{Oh, you poor stupid bitch, we are not here to kill you we just want to talk to Krios after he is done with you, and I get to finally tell him I win!} Shadow laughed again and Thane slipped into a memory at her words.

 

________________________________________

Thane stood at the entrance to his marks room staring at the blood-soaked scene before, Shadow turned her mask visage to him and spoke with her speakers making her voice buzz.

{Thane I win this round, should we make it interesting? First one to thirty kills when we are both after the same targets wins, winner gets one wish of the other an it can be anything.} Shadow said her voice laughing and Thane knew she was smirking at him.

He had agreed and found his soul burning every-time he spotted the shimmer of her cloak on a hunt, it had brought out the best in them as the raced. In time Thane began seeking prey that she would likely hunt to try and beat her, but then he heard the news that his greatest rival and best friend had been killed in an honourless death. 

________________________________________

Thane dropped from the ceiling and began killing reaching for his mark only to watch as her head sprouted two new holes just as he was reaching for her.

{Ha Thane! I win! Oh, I already have an idea for what I want you to do for me!} Shadow said laughing, as her brother just sighed before speaking.

{Good to see you Krios, now I have a new hunt for you if you are interested? This one will be the greatest hunt any of has ever done, we are going to hunt and kill the collectors who are attacking human colonies. This of course means going to a place no one besides those bugs has ever returned from, but you know me and my sis will return after all we still need to go on our honey-moons. So what do you say Krios are you coming, your illness should still be fine for another year right?} Thane blinked at his friend’s casual of asking him on a suicide as well as mentioning that he and Eris had gotten married.

“Of course, let us leave and collect my belongings and head for your ship.” Thane said after a moment of thought, he would enjoy helping brighten the world before he died and he would rather do it by the sides of his best friend and his greatest rival and friend.

The three left and they caught him up to the mission brief as well as showing him photos of their mates, Thane smiled at the love that was in the cold hunters voices when they spoke of their loves. There was also great pride in their voices as they showed off the visors they now wore.


	19. Settling in

Ch.19 Settling in.

Tali was laying in bed having woken up early, she would have gotten up but Odysseus was wrapped around her from behind. Tali blushed as his hands moved to grope her, she knew that he meant nothing by it as he was like a snake and just wrapped around the nearest warm object and ran his hands over it to change position every so often.

The alarm came just as his hands had started to wander even lower, sighing she rolled over and poked him in the forehead trying to wake him. All she got was a weak grumble and getting pulled closer, Tali simply stretched her neck and bit his ear sharply making him jump. She watched his eyes blink open glazed with sleep, she felt herself becoming lost in the strange dull glow of his eyes.

{You know there are better ways to wake me up.} he said smirking at her.

{Yes, but you had my hand pinned when you pulled me closer so I could not reach, and we don’t have time this morning remember you have that meeting with the new crew and I have to be on shift soon.} Tali teased.

Demo sighed and Tali let him pull them up out of the bed to begin their morning stretches before they slipped their suits on and heading down for breakfast, Demo paused in the mini common room and tilted his head before sighing. Tali watched smirking slightly as he went over to his twin’s door and hit the buzzer before yell into his comm.

{Eris stop fucking your turian and get your ass out of bed! I am not dealing with your hunger anger because you were too busy fucking to eat!} Tali heard a shout that turned into a moaning groan.

{Garrus if you make her miss breakfast I will start hitting random buttons on the thaix cannon!} With that Demo spun on his heel and took Tali’s hand before walking into the elevator.

________________________________________

Thane rode the elevator up to the command deck, stopping briefly to greet the Yeoman before moving into the laboratory. He was greeted by a very energic Salarian who was missing a part of his horn, the Salarian briefly greeted him while directing him to take a seat out of the way while he waited for the rest to show up.

{Thane thank you for agreeing to this even if it is just because of the bet.} Eris said as she and her brother appeared in a shimmer of light.

{The desire to help create a cure for my people is something I am glad to assist in.} He said half bowing to the twins as Eris lounged on a chair and demo was working with a large machine.

There was the tell tale his of the doors opening followed by a smooth voice. “Well-well please tell me the drell is not part of the ground team? I want a taste of him, Eris hope that the doc her wont get too handsy or at least he buys me dinner first!” Thane had been briefed about this woman but seeing was different, she carried herself like a predator.

{Sorry morry but Thane here is part of the ground team, and a crucial test subject and old friend so you can’t kill him. Feel free to eat Jacob if you want, we don’t really need him.} Eris said shrugging.

“Ah! Everyone here, good! Can begin now, Mr. Krios will need blood and spinal fluid sample. Eris will take care of you, Morinth will need brain scan along with blood and spinal fluids. Please take a sear over by Odysseus, will take scan then samples for best result!” Mordin said as he flitted around the lab gathering other tools and scanners, while the twins helped with the testing.

Thane sat in the chair and let his mind fall back into the past to a time with his wife, he dimly felt the pain as needles burrowed their way into his flesh. As memories swam before his eyes he dimly noticed that the twins did not say a word the entire time.

________________________________________

Tali entered the engine bay and had to bite back a sigh at the sight of Legion standing in the bay with a data pad in its hand, while she had agreed to work with the geth this would be the first shift where she was actually working at the same time in the same room.  
[Creator Zorah This platform stands ready to begin allotted tasks.] the synthetic voice stated, Tali nodded and moved to the main terminal to double check the work orders for while the team was in dry-dock for repairs and upgrades.

She smiled when she saw that the work order was the last major task that needed to be done in dry-dock, and it was the one she had been looking forward to. The shields were just as good as the last Normandy but that meant the collect ship would be able to cut right through them again, so Demo and Tali had spent several nights designing a new shield layout that would allow them to take more hits from the ship.

[Creator Zorah we have been reviewing the designs and have found exactly three errors that with minor changes will improve shield output by thirty point six percent.] Tali whipped around and glared at the geth.

{Really you Bosh’tet and just what errors do you find with my work!} Tali snapped at the machine for daring to question her and demo’s work.

[Error we misspoke, they are not errors in the mechanical or programming sense. Simply a misunderstanding of information in regards to the shield harmonics, the out-dated understanding organics have regarding shields created these errors.] Tali blinked at that statement, was this geth really offering to teach her how to make better shields.

{You realize that I could send this data back to the fleet to improve our weapons and shields to use against the geth.} Tali asked carefully.

[We understand, we also understand that Shepard-captain and Shepard-commander are utilizing this mission to attempt to bring peace to the geth and the creators. Working towards this goal we have been authorized to limited co-development of systems.] Legion stated and Tali paused and decided to ask Legion something that Demo had told her but she did not believe.

{Legion Demo said that the geth only became violate after the war had already begun, and that it was quarian against quarian in the beginning is this true?} Tali asked and waited.

[Yes, the creators were unable to reach a consensus on what actions should be taken in regards to the geth.] 

{Why did the geth not destroy my race? It would have the safer option.} Tali did not want to give this geth the idea of attacking her people but it was a question that would need an answer before peace was even a chance.

[We could not fully grasp what would happen in the event of the destruction of the creators, so a compromise was use by allowing the creators to leave we could build towards our future and the creators could survive and perhaps return when they were no longer hostile.] Tali was floored.

{So if we agreed to live and let live you would allow us to return home?!} Tali could not believe her ears.

[Yes. Creator Zorah we have waste four point three minutes in discussion, we recommend that we begin reviewing the redesigns so that Creator Zorah may return to her mate without having to clock overtime.] With that Legion brought up the new plans it had drafted, Tali was impressed despite herself with a few questions and minor shifts they raise the output another percent and began working.

________________________________________

Tali climbed out of the shaft she was working in only to be lifted by legion and set down gently on the grating, she thanked it quickly as she gathered her tools up and began cleaning. Tali was amazed at the fact that she was far more comfortable around the geth now, after working with it for several hours and debating tech with it and Demo when he came down to have lunch with them and tell them that the other engine rats were working on the gun with garrus so would not be in today. 

________________________________________

Tali had laughed at the thought of Garrus allowing the engineers anywhere near his gun, Demo had laughed as well and said that Eris would probably need to distract him. Legion piped up at that moment stating that according to EDI Eris and Garrus were currently in their room with Garrus tied to the bed gaged, Tali feel over laughing at the image until she started blushing as she remembered the one time she had walked in on the pair and had seen Garrus naked along with Eris.

[Creator Zorah are you unwell? You are showing signs of both distress and arousal?] Legion stated and Demo the prick started laughing.

{My heart if you want to play with garrus and Eris just say so! I am sure that Eris would be open to all of us having fun, she would probably just need to bat her eyes and shake her hips! Ancestors it would not be the first time Eris and I have done something like that, then again that was with a pair of turians both of them were very skilled with those claws!} Demo said and Tali only blushed harder at the thought of Eris kissing her senseless and Demo fucked her from below while Garrus used his claws to tease her.  
{I-I would not be against it.} She muttered and spun quickly when she heard Demo choking on his lunch, she saw Legion pass him a drink without a word. 

{Thanks, okay then I will mention it later when Eris and I are going over the reports. I will see you later Anigeal.} With that Demo vanished in a shimmer of light.

________________________________________

Tali rode the elevator with Legion and it was oddly not as awkward as she had feared, Legion stepped out first making its way to the Ai core. Just as she reached the mess hall dextro storage and began pulling out food the doors to the XO’s room opened and Miranda stepped out with the twins.

“Thank you both for this!” She said quietly so much so that Tali only heard because of her mics.

{Think nothing of it Miranda, you are part of our crew and that means we help each other.} Eris said gently laying a hand on the officer’s upper arm.

{Besides we kinda owe you for the whole bring us back from the dead thing!} Demo joked as they walked over to Tali as Garrus came out of the battery to join them.

“Alright we will need to meet my contact tomorrow at 1700 local time tomorrow.” With that the woman left to return to her office.

Tali tilted her head at demo and he responded at once. {We have something else to take care of before we can leave, so you and legion are with me on a mission tomorrow. We will brief tomorrow over lunch when Miranda gives us all the details of the mission, Garrus and Jack will be with Miranda and if everything goes okay nothing will happen but bring your shotgun just in case.} Demo said as they sat at a table with Joker who started Bantering with Demo at once.


	20. Miranda's loyalty mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break there, i got caught up in my other works and family stuff.

Ch.20 The demons bare their fangs.

Miranda walked with the twins flanking her as they went to meet her contact, she had been very hesitant to reveal everything about Oriana. But she knew that if she had not and the twins found out forget getting their help she would be lucky to get away with her life, the sight of her contact shook her out of her thoughts.

“When you said, you were bringing back up I thought one or two not a crowd.” The asari said waving a hand the twins and their mates along with Legion, who had been brought at Demo’s insistence.

“You said that there might be a problem?” Miranda asked not wanting to get off track.

“Yeah a man named niket contacted me saying that you sent him.” Miranda nodded, this made the asari sigh in relief.

“Well he said that your father is sending eclipse mercenaries to do a sweep. he also mentioned that they may be looking for you. He offered to handle the moving personally while you follow head in another direction to draw attention away.“ Miranda smiled, she knew she could trust niket to get the job done.

“That sounds good but a slight adjustment is in order, Eris and Garrus will go with Miranda to draw their attention while Niket deals with the family. Meanwhile Tali, Legion and I will shadow Niket to make sure that nothing happens.” Demo interjected and the asari nodded starting to reach to her ear hole to update Niket, when Eris snagged her wrist.

“No keep him in the dark, the less people who know that we are here the less likely the plan is to fail. Also just because Miri here trusts him does not mean we do.” Eris said smoothly, Miranda frown at both the nickname and the lack of trust.

“You can trust Niket, he helped me escape the first time!” She snapped only to have Demo look at her through his recon hood lens.

“Trust no one completely as even the devil was once the most trusted angel. Words to live by Miranda, no one can be trust completely especially someone who you have been out of contact with along time. besides you said it yourself he did not know about her until a few days ago, this is just a precaution. 

“If you are right he will never know that someone was there, but if you are wrong or the mercs out smart him then we are there to stop it.” Miranda frowned but stood down, she really needed the twins help to make sure this went well and both had experience with matters like this so she would have to trust them.

With the plan agreed on the team split up with the engineers heading over to a separate platform to stagger their departure, Miranda hoped that the twin were just being paranoid about the whole thing. But she could not shake the feeling that something was not right, now that the seed had been planted she was not sure just how much she could really trust here old friend.

________________________________________

Demo lead them to a skycar that was a sleek streamlined model with his family’s company logo on the side, he opened the trunk and show them what was inside. Resting in a custom stand mounted into the car was several strange looking auto-turrets with two matching rifles that also looked off.

{Some new toys my company is developing for a client, and I figured that we could test them out in field for the first time.} Demo said, he smiled when Tali leaned forward to get a better look at them.

{Laser guided auto-turrets with high calibre rounds and long range scanners plus cameras, can they be programed to laser paint using each other instead of the guns?} Tali asked while bouncing on her toes, and demo was remined once again why he would crawl back from hell for this woman.

{That is one of the features yes, how ever the main feature is to be able to capture a wide range of data before blowing the target to bits.} Demo explained.

{The target departure time approaches Shepard-captain, we recommend boarding now to ensure arrival with sufficient time to set up the turrets.} Legion’s monotone voice interjected, pair of organics nodded and they climbed into the car.

________________________________________

Demo lay on a roof over looking the docking bay looking through his scope down at the man named Niket, He was starting to wonder if Miranda had been right about the man when Tali’s voice broke over the radio alerting them to the presence of the mercs in the bay. Before he could respond Eris broke in saying that there were also mercs in the cargo bay and she would have to set down or risk being shot down.

He watched as Niket stood suddenly noticing the mercs, but instead of reaching for his weapon or comm he smiled and waved them over. Demo scowled unhappy that once again his instincts had been right about another mess in the making, He started switched feed streams until the audio of the mercs and the traitor came into focus.

“What took you so long, Miranda might get here soon!” the traitor said, Demo linked the feeds into his sister’s setup so that she could show Miranda.

“Calm down Niket, my boys will make sure that does not happen. The bitch all ready was forced to land, so she wont be a problem much longer.” The man actually looked upset.

{Miranda I want to play with these fools, do you want the traitor alive?} he asked, and smiled when he heard the response.

“I want him alive, I want him to look me in the eye and explain this!” she growled.

{Alright, Tali, Legion paint the head merc and be ready to follow my lead on this.} Odysseus heard the acknowledgements before he tapped into the merc’s and the traitor’s comms.

{Attention Captain Enyala is it?} Demo smiled like a feral wolf at how the pair in his scope jumped and began looking around.

“Who is this?!” Enyala snarled, while the traitor looked pale.

{You may call me Demo, and I am the person with several laser guided turrets aimed at you right now.} Demo said smoothly letting his voice become devoid of all emotion.

“What do you want!?” The captain snarled looking around for him.

{Captain, I am watching you through a very high powered scope right now, there is no point in looking for me. But as to what I want that is fairly simple, I want you and your idiot mercs to have a sudden case of amnesia and forget that you were here on mission and leave.} Demo delievered in a bored voice.

“Do you know how much I am getting paid for this!?” She yelled into her comm, and Demo winced at the sudden yelling.

Switching to a closed channel he gave a simple order. {Tali kill the merc on her right front head-shot between the eyes, legion kill the left one with a shot to her head as well but from the back. Fire on my mark…MARK!} as soon as he said the word he also fired a shot.  
________________________________________

Enyala was fuming that some one had the balls to threaten her, she was about to tell the voice to stop joking as there was no way he really had more than one gun pointed at her group. That thought was brutally shattered when out of nowhere her guard’s head’s sprouted new holes while Niket’s left knee suddenly shattered as a concussive round shattered every bone in his knee.

{No tell me Enyala, do you really want to fight this? Are you really willing to die for this coin, I have personally left mountains of corpses behind when angered? Do you want to join that growing pile?} the cold voice said, and it was at that moment that she clued into just who she was dealing with.

Enyala felt her blood run cold as she realised that somehow the bitch that had stolen the kid had convinced at least one of the blue demons of omega to help her, she was about to call her boys to tell them to kill that bitch when another voice broke in on the comms.  
“Captain! we are being slaughtered out here! Are you there, come on respond for the love of the goddess! Captain do you-urgh!” Enyala frozen at the sound of her lieutenant being killed over the comm.

{Guess my sister was fired upon, well now here is your chance! Call them off and forget you were ever here and we don’t kill everyone of you.} Enyala ground her teeth as she raise her comm, after she signaled the retreat she heard the sounds of a cold feminine laugh mocking her.

________________________________________

Demo and Eris sat in the common captain’s room looking over file together, Miranda had spoken with her sister and had promised her to keep in touch. Niket had been dealt with, he was heading back to his boss with a shattered knee and a warning for that bastard. Oriana was now under the protection of the blue demons.

{Well what do you think, is she the right one?} Eris asked as she read over the dossier.

{I think so, I wonder how Miranda will react when she finds out about this?} Demo responded with a smirk in his voice as he tossed down the data pad.

{I just hope we are able to record it!} Eris said laughing as she tossed down her copy of the file, and headed for bed.

On top of the table the data pad screens show two files on each, the first was a locked cover page the read ‘Project phoenix’ with a few picture of an arid planet. The other file was a dossier with the title ‘Possible candidate for c division project lead’ underneath that was a head shot of a young woman with the label ‘O. Lawson.’


	21. Chapter 21

Ch.21 The Collector Ship.

The moment Odysseus and Eris stepped out of the comm room Eris spoke to EDI. {EDI begin running analysis on the distress call. Use everything that you can think of, there is something off about all this so make sure that you double check your work.} Eris’s voice was hard as the twins walked away from the comm room to consult with joker.

{This is gonna be a problem, our standard squad set up will need to change for this mission. We will need to be armed to the teeth for this.} Odysseus remarked as they entered the cockpit.

{Yeah I think we should also keep it small, less chance of anything going wrong.} Eris agreed.

“Hey Demo, is there a reason that we are going anywhere near the ship the killed you two?” Joker asked unhappily.

{Yeah, there is a high chance that this is a trap but the chance of getting data on those bugs is to good to pass up.} Demo explained, Eris nodded and the talk drifted towards the different routes to take to reach the ship.

________________________________________

The team was two hours out from the ship when they gathered in the Comm room, Odysseus activated a scale projection of the Collector ship. Tali looked at the ship that had caused over two years of suffering for her, the rage she felt looking at it was almost painful. almost to the point she nearly missed the first words of the brief.

“Alright this op different than usual, the teams will be split up differently this time. the reason for this is simple, we are going in to grab the nav data and anything else we can on these bugs.” Demo explained and Tali saw many of the team looking excited at the prospect of fighting on the ship.

Eris stepped forward with a few taps on the display brought up the new teams and began explaining them. “The first team is Alpha lead by Demo, it consists of Demo, Legion, Kasumi, and Mordin.” Tali was shocked that looking on the team rosters neither her or garrus were on the lists.

“Alpha team’s primary goal is data mining and mapping, the team is also going to be laying custom explosive so when we bug out we do some serious damage to the ship.” Eris continued, Tali looked at Garrus and saw that he also looked unhappy and shocked with the teams.

“The beta team is made up of myself, Jack, Zaeed, and Grunt. We will be the escort and guards for the main team, EDI has determined that the signal is fake so this is a trap. Meaning that it will come down to a fire fight, so bring your heavy weapons and ammo as this will not be easy.” Eris finished her brief and Demo stepped up to layout the rough entry plan.

While Tali listened she fumed, Demo was planning on leaving her behind while he went on the ship that killed him!? Tali knew better than to question the twins in public, they had to maintain neutral stances at all times. But this was wrong, Tali had been part of his squad since her first mission, she could only wait until they were alone to get her answers.

________________________________________

 

Garrus watched the rest of the ground team file out until it was only the twins and Tali with him, when the door was sealed behind the last member and a jammer field up he all but snarled at the twins. “What in the spirits names is the deal with those teams?! I need to know why I am not watching your six Cori!” Eris tilted her head at him in confusion.

{You are watching my six my sweet fang. The reason your staying behind is that if something goes wrong, we need you on the main gun ready to carve us a new exit.} Garrus could see the logic but it still stung.

“I would rather be by your side.” Garrus explained, deflating slightly.

{I know Garrus, I don’t like this anymore than you but we cant risk it right now.} Eris responded taking his clawed hand in hers, Demo turned to Tali clearly waiting.

{You Bosh’Tet, Why are you taking Legion over me?! I am a tech expert just like it, and I have been by your side long and work better with you than a Geth could ever!} Tali yelled slamming her fists on the table, Garrus winced knowing that Tali was taking Legion being the tech   
expert on the squad as a slap in the face.

{Anigeal Legion is on the squad instead of you for a few reason, we don’t know just what we will be facing so Legion’s more powerful sensors will be advantage. He is also a faster hack than either of us, he also is made to survive in a lot of environments. But the biggest reason is this I need you here working with Joker and EDI to make sure that the data we send does not infect the system, you’re the only one I can trust this to. You know my programs and EDI’s programming better than anyone on the ship beside me, I cant trust Legion fully with EDI’s programming just yet.} Demo explained gently while never moving from his spot, giving Tali her space while he spoke.

{Fine, but you better make this up to me.} Tali muttered as she hugged him.

{Anything that is in my power to grant.} Odysseus promised, and saw Tali’s posture change to a mischievousness one.

{Even what you suggested when we were talking with legion in the engine bay?} Garrus frowned at the sultry tone she was taking, he began wondering if he and Eris should be leaving.

{If that is what you want, I am open to it but you are the one who will have to ask them. I already asked that day so it is on you now.} Demo countered and Garrus was even more confused by the teasing tone and the fact that Eris was shaking from supressed laughter.

{Alright.} She chirped before turning to Garrus and Eris. {Garrus, Eris would you like to have a four-way after this mission. That way our Twins can make it up to us for leaving us off their squads?} Garrus was sure his translator had just broken.

{If Garrus is willing sure, Unlike my brother I know how to treat a lady!} Eris said reaching out and curling a few fingers under Tali’s chin and leaning in to whisper those words, at that moment Garrus’s decided that if the universe decided to suddenly take leave of all senses then he would just go with it.

“Fine I see no problem with it.” Garrus sighed and Eris laughed.

{Oh Garrus, don’t be like that I promise it will be a night you never forget. I know your old partner does.} Demo said laughing as Garrus’s brain ground to a halt.

“What?” was all he could say.

{Well we were bored on shore leave once before we met you guys, and well what can I say Nyreen and her boyfriend were skilled.} Demo said shrugging, Garrus shook his head and left the room needing time to get the hot picture of his old partner and his wife kissing out of his head.


	22. Collector ship

Ch.22 Collector Ship.

{We’re in, Comm check, Garrus, Tali you read us?} Odysseus called the moment ship team exited the shuttle.

{We read you Demo, be careful.} Tali’s voice carried over the Comms.

{Always, these bugs owe me a lot for the two years you suffered and for my trident.} Demo responded as the teams moved into position.

Eris lead the way with the heavy squad, Legion was in between the two groups with scanners running looking for anything off. The tech team was busily hacking anything they could while planting bombs at every data port and sensor they found. Everyone was tense, there had yet to be any enemy contact in the slightest.

When the ground team came across the piles of humans, several of the members looked ill. “What is with the bodies?” Kasumi asked gaging at the sight of decaying flesh. 

{Experiments, once used up they are dumped here.} Demo growled, Mordin nodded and began rambling as he scanned. “Signs of restraints, mostly likely no nerve toxin used. Several corpses show no injection or treatment signs, control group. Disgusting, brute force medicine!” 

{Let’s go we can’t do anything for these ones, but we can kill a whole bunch of those bugs!} Shadow snarled, and the heavy team began to move off again, with the tech team not far behind.  
________________________________________

Garrus stood at the cannon running final diagnostics on it, this was the first mission since the twins had been back that Tali and him weren’t on it. Because of that Garrus needed to know that his only part of the mission was done perfectly, the cannon beeped showing that it was fully powered and ready.

{At least we know that they used their own kind in their tests too, just what were they looking for?} Eris’s voice carried over Garrus’s comm, the sound of her speakers buzzing made Garrus feel better.  
“The Collectors were running test on compatibility, also I have found some strange.” EDI answered. “The DNA strands match the structure of only one known race, the Prothianins.” Garrus’s mandibles fluttered at that.

{So that is how the reapers work, they wipe out a galaxy and take a race that can fufill their needs and warp them into their own image.} Eris muttered, reminding garrus that the keepers were also made the reapers.

{Alright, move out, I want off this house of horrors ASAP!} Demo barked and the Comms fell silent again.  
________________________________________

{Tali, we are patching you a signal, make sure to keep it where we discussed.} Tali heard Demo say as the stream of data started flowing into her terminal.

The terminal was on a semi air system, it had only path in or out. That was the data transmitter that Demo had plugged in. With EDI watching through the lenses of a camera mounted on the edge of the terminal, the pair began looking at the data and trying to break it down. Suddenly her screen was lit up with warning signs as the program tried to overload the system, hands flying across the interface she rerouted power to prevent power from being lost.

{Demo! The program just tried to fry everything! Be careful, they are probably coming!} Tali cried into her comm, she heard orders being barked out by the twins as they directed the squads.

{EDI, Tali start a remote hack! Get into the system and start opening doors, we need an out now!} Demo yelled and at once Tali was working with EDI to get the doors needed open.

________________________________________

{Garrus, Joker, bring the Cannon to bare! Target the following locations in this order and fire when ready!} Garrus clicked his comm twice to signal he copied as he brought the firing screen up and began running the targeting program.

Joker signaled they were ready, Garrus all but slamed the firing key. A subtle vibration could be felt in the main battery as the cannon fired on the first target. A large chunk of the Collector’s ship vanished in a flash, but neither of the men paid it any attention as the Normandy was already repositioning. 

With every shot fired, the Collector ship lost more critical systems. By the third shot, the Collector ship had lost power to the main gun according to Garrus’s read out. He dimly heard Demo, rattling off to legion a series of id’s for the bombs they had planted. 

{Joker open the bay, and prepare for launch route Zeta!} Eris’ voice snapped over the Comm… {We’re in, Go, now!} Demo shouted over the Comm and Garrus felt the subtle shake of the ship launching into FTL.  
________________________________________

The ground team was gathered around the Comm room table, everyone was in a far better mood than before. The Collectors ship had been greatly Crippled by their mission, and they had gotten a large amount of data. Eris stood held against Garrus with his arms around her waist. Tali was in a similar position with Demo.

{Alright good news, bad news time kiddies.} Demo snarked as he powered up the table.

{Good news, we found the collector homeworld, and we kicked their ship’s teeth in.} the team simled at that and jack let out a ‘fuck yeah.’ {Bad news, it is in the core and we need an IFF from the reapers or Collectors to get in without being turned into solar dust.} that killed the mood.

Eris shifted out of Garrus’s grip and approached the table. {For right now until TIMmy can find us an IFF, we will be taking care of any business left that we can.} looking around the table she spoke again. {If there is anything you want to take care of do it soon. Even with the preps we’ve done, we are still likely not all going to make it back. Dismissed, rest up for the next few days, you have all earned it.} the team left and Garrus rubbed Eris’s back.

________________________________________

Rael’Zorah ran to the Command room, everything had gone wrong. The Geth had taken over most of the ship’s systems already, his only hope was to lock the Systems down, before the Geth could get free. Rael wondered where it had gone wrong, he was sure that he had placed enough fail safes! The ship shook as the marines aboard fought the Geth.

He shut the door behind him and locked it down, rushing to the panel on the wall he began. In only a few moments the ship was locked down, the Geth run times would never be able to jump ship. Now he and his crew could only wait for death.

He picked up his rifle and moved out of the room, he was the captain of his ship. He would be dammed if he was going to let the Geth kill his crew without a fight, He sent out a failsafe code into the ship speakers. As he moved through the ship he funneled his crew towards a safe room, with the last living member of the crew in the room, he entered the room and sealed it.

{What do we do now?} one of his crew asked, a woman with a son name Jonna. {Now we wait for the end.} Rael said sadly.

{I am sorry, I was trying to give our people a home on the home world.} Rael felt a hand on his shoulder.

{Captain, we followed you this far, what is a little farther?} One of his younger members joked.

________________________________________

Aboard the Normandy Demo, Eris and Tali’s personal terminals lit up with a blaring siren, marking priority mail from the fleet. The twin’s visions were suddenly filled with the message, cursing they ordered Joker to get them to the fleet ASAP.

{Joker, I don’t care how many laws and treaties you break! Just get us there as fast as you can push it!} Demo barked into the ship and the ship suddenly shuddered as the ship slammed into FTL faster than was sane by any measure.

“What is the matter?” Garrus asked worried by the demeanor of the suited trio.

{Tali’s father’s ship has been over run by Geth, they would be normally blaming Tali for bring Geth aboard. But Eris and I invented the scavage check list to make sure pieces were safe, and we cataloged every piece we sent them. But now we need to get there soon or they will blow the ship to piece.} Demo explained, as he began messaging Legion about a matter.

Eris was already, pulling up the plans for the ship and beginning a squad layout plan, Garrus, Tali watched amazed as the twins became blurs of motion. The planning speed that they hit was beyond anything they had ever seen. Tali could not help but feel that they might be able to save her father with their help.


	23. The Fleet

Ch.23 The Fleet.

The ship shuddered as it reverted from FTL, Demo approached the cockpit and booted up the comm system. At once the comm came alive with transmissions, the transmissions demanded they identify themselves.

{This is Demo’Jeemas Vas Star_Surfer, requesting permission to dock. we are carrying myself, Shadow’Jeemas Vas Star_surfer, and Tali’Zorah Vas Neema.} Demo responded, the comm was silent for a few seconds.  
{Your ship is flagged as Cerberus, verify.} The voice commanded, Demo smiled as he spoke again. {Once more delivered from the dark ashes, we rise to seek light brighter than any star.}

{Verified, welcome home Demo.} The voice’s tone became much kinder. {Thank you, we need a cleaning team as the ship is not clean.} After the controller confirmed the team, they were given a cradle to dock at.

________________________________________

Six members walked out of the air lock, at once there was weapons pointed at them. Demo stepped forward, stating that Legion was under his watch and protection. After a few tense moments the team was allowed to pass, Demo looked around smiling slightly behind his mask.

Admiral Raan greeted the team as they entered the corridor. {Tali’Zorah it is good to see you, and you as well Demo and Shadow.} Tali ran forward to hug her aunt.

{Greetings Admiral, I wish our home coming was under better times.} Eris stepped forward to hug her old friend.

{Yeah, I would want to greet my father in law properly, not when we need to save him.} Demo joked, Raan looked between Tali and Demo.

{So, you finally did it Tali?} Raan asked, Tali shifted nervously. {Relax Tali, I am happy for you and Demo.} Raan soothed the young woman.

{I hate to do this Raan but we need to get moving, where are the other Admirals?} Demo asked, Raan nodded and gestured for them to follow her.

________________________________________

Garrus entered the control room a step behind Legion and moved to stand in the corner, as the twins and Tali sat at the table. Kasumi leaned against the wall on the other side of Legion in the corner, Garrus watched as Eris and Demo were welcomed with open arms by nearly every member of the board.

The only one who did not welcome them warmly was Han’Gerrel, who greeted them with cool respect but was clearly not welcoming to them. After beginning discussions with the admirals. Gerrel complained about Legion being in the room with them. Garrus resisted the urge to growl at the hostile tone he was taking with Eris.

{Admiral, Legion is here as a member of our crew, and he also is an ambassador from the main branch of the geth trying to open peaceful relationships.} Eris explained calmly, Admiral Xen remarked that she did not see the purpose.

{The Geth were the ones that gave me the base frame work for the suit program, Shadow and I have actually made peaceful contact in the past.} Demo explained and that caused shock to run through the board.  
{But that is not the concern right now, we need to focus on saving the crew of the Rayya.} Demo broke in again to focus them.

{The safest plan of action would be to simply destroy the ship.} Xen offered, Raan and the other members of the boards immediately began to fight. 

{Enough!} Eris yelled, slamming her fist on the desk. {The reason we brought Legion here was to see if we could reach a peaceful solution with the Geth.} The board froze at her words, even Garrus’s mandibles dropped.  
{What!?} Gerrel yelled so loud that all the suited members of the room clutched their heads, as their speakers screeched with feedback.

{Legion has agreed to act as a translation and mediator for this, if this works then it is proof that peace is possible.} Eris explained, the Admirals looked hesitant until Demo said they would be doing this from the Normandy.  
The board agreed on the condition that should it fail then, Legion and the Rayya would be destroyed. Demo agreed and Garrus felt tension in the room spike. The team returned to the ship and began linking Legion in to the systems needed for this to work.

________________________________________

Tali watched as Demo hooked up the last connections, When he finished he looked at her and spoke. {Tali, to make the Board see this can work for the race you are going to be the negotiator for this.}   
{What!?} Tali squeaked, she started to panic.

{Hey relax Anigeal, I will be right beside you the entire time!} Odysseus soothed rubbing her shoulders, Tali relaxed a bit.

{I know you can do it lass, I have seen how much you have grown since we first met.} Tali blushed and hugged him.

{Alright let’s do this} Tali said.

Demo nodded to Legion and it booted up the connection, at once there was the telltale sound of geth clicking, then Legion spoke. **We are the geth aboard the ship platform Rayya.** 

{I am Tali’Zorah Vas Neema, speaking on behalf of the Admiralty board. We would like to end this peacefully, is there any crew still alive aboard the Rayya?} Tali asked, voice a lot steadier than she felt.

**sixty percent of the crew remain including Rael’Zorah Admiral, Geth also have no desire to continue conflict in this matter. The Crew are currently sealed within the crew quaters.** Tali almost sighed at the news.  
{What would it take for the Geth to leave peacefully?} Tali asked, Demo and Eris squeezed her shoulders in comfort.

**Geth will leave if we are promised safe passage and the right to report the weapons testing, and systemic viral attacks performed on the Geth.** Tali cursed her father for doing something so stupid.

{Will the main geth retaliate for those attacks?} Tali asked, knowing this would be the make or break part.

**Geth do not have enough data to predict with more than eighty percent certainty.**

{What are the odds then?} Tali demanded.

**Currently data suggests that not retaliation from the Geth, the chance of retaliation is fifteen percent at this time.**

{Alright, you may use the spare FTL shuttle in the bay.} Tali sighed, Legion hummed for a few moments before the geth responded.

**Very well, ship is reactivated and we are leaving. The mobile platform with you has already launched a message to the main branch to expect our return or communication within forty eight hours. **  
{Understood, safe journeys.} Tali said, as the Geth cut communication.

A few minutes later they receive notice that the ship had launched, they all sighed with relief as it departed. The crew of the Rayya was rescued shortly after. Demo promised that tomorrow they would go over and talk with the board and her father, Tali nodded very tired after the tense talks. 

She was about to walk up to their room, when she was swept up into Odysseus’s arms bridal style. Before she could protest she was being carried to their room, Tali blushed and hid her mask behind her hands. Eris laughed and leapt at Garrus wrapping her arms around his neck, Garrus caught her quickly and she demanded he carry her as well. Sighing he carried his wife up to bed.


	24. First step

Ch.24 The first step towards a new home.

Tali stepped out of the air lock tense, she had no idea how her father would react to her having married a human. Demo walked beside her, holding her right hand while Eris and Garrus walked on her left. The group headed for the admiralty board room, Tali tensed even more at the sight of her father sitting there.

{Tali! I am glad you are alright!} Rael exclaimed, standing up he wrapped her in a hug that she returned.

{I was so worried when I got the message dad, why would you do something so foolish?} Tali replied as she stepped back to look at her father.

{I was trying to give you a house on the home world.} Rael explained, sighing as he sat down.

Demo and Eris moved to their seats, their mates stand behind and to the right of them. Tali rested her hand on his shoulder, Demo reached up and squeezed it before looking at everyone at the table. Tali saw her father tense at the exchange, but she could not see displeasure in the tensing, only surprise.

{In all while it was a foolish plan, the end result actually works in our favor.} Demo told the group, Tali watched the confusion spread among the suited beings.

{How exactly does Rael attacking the Geth help us?} Gerrel demanded.

{Because it allowed us to prove something more important than the research could provide.} Eris countered.

{And what would that be? That Rael is desperate enough to endanger his entire crew?} Xen taunted, Tali wanted to slap the Bosh’tet.

{No, it prove that Peace with the Geth is possible. We also have proven that the Geth were honest, when they told my brother and I that they just wanted peace.} Eris explained slowly, as if Xen was slow, Tali sensed a fair amount of tension between the two.

{I agree, it showed that my suggestion has more validity than ever before. We can now begin attempting to have talks with the geth, it may even lead to us returning to the homeworld.} Koris supported the twins, Tali smiled behind her mask at his words.

{I would like to hear Tali’Zorah’s opinion on this matter, she has had the most contact with the Geth of any living Quarian in living memory.} Raan suggested, the others turned to look at Tali.

{Before meeting Legion, I would have laughed at the idea of working with the Geth. Now though, Legion has helped us many times. He has even saved my life and my bondmate’s life as well.} Tali explained.

{But do you think that peace can be achieved?} Xen demanded, Tali looked at her.

{As long as we treat them as a race and not our tools, then yes we can.} Tali explained, the board decided to table the talks until after the twins mission was done.

________________________________________

As the meeting came to a close and Demo’s group was about to leave, Rael called for Demo and Tali to stay behind. Demo signaled his team to head back without them, with Tali by his side he sat back down. Demo looked at Rael from behind his mask, the twins had needed to wear the masks because of the clean space of the ships.

{So you bonded Tali?} Rael began, Demo squeezed Tali’s hand when she tensed.

{Yes, we were suppose to marry before Odysseus died. I had been trying to tell you since I had came back, but you never gave me the time of day to speak about it.} Tali sounded slightly defensive, Demo rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb to calm her.  
{I am sorry, I was so caught up in giving you a home on Rannoch, that I forgot about you.} Rael bowed his head.

{Rael, for what it is worth, I am sorry that you could not be at the wedding.} Demo spoke gently, he had a fondness for the old Quarian who had always pushed the twins.

{I understand the desire to make it official, I rushed my own wedding.} Rael said with a slight chuckle, and like that the tension melted.

Demo excused himself to let his heart and her father bond and catch up, Xen caught him outside the door. She fell in step with him, Demo merely nodded his greeting waiting for her to speak. Xen walked in silence for a moment before stopping him and facing him.

{Tell me honestly, and not what you tell Tali’Zorah to make her feel better, Can there really be peace with those machines?} Xen asked, Demo sighed knowing this had been coming.

{Yes, before my sister and I went to the homeworld all those years ago, I would have laughed at the idea. Now though, seeing their side of the war and how much they have changed from the past.} Demo shook his head.

{While they don’t think like us, they do however understand that life is precious, and they don’t even use the planet really. They just use satellites in orbit and keep the place clean really, so we could have peace. What kind of peace, who knows that will be up to both sides?} Demo shrugged and Xen nodded before taking her leave.

________________________________________

Demo and Tali enter the ship in time to hear Joker over the comm. “Demo, Shadow you two get your asses down to the cargo bay! Your krogan is trying to break MY SHIP!” that had them running for the elevator.

By the time, they got down there it was over. Eris sat atop Grunt like a big game hunter atop her kill, Grunt for his part was knocked out with several darts in his hide. Eris buzzed Joker to set course for the krogan homeworld, while Demo called Mordin to get rage suppressants ready. Garrus was crouching by Grunt’s head, poking him with a claw on the brow plate.

“Cori is he dead?” Garrus asked, Eris laughed freely.

{No, drugged to high hell, yes. Dead? No, takes more to kill a krogan, poisoned enough to know that!} Eris laughed even more, Garrus sighed as Eris ordered Demo to take a picture of her trophy.

{Aren’t you glad you married the sane one?} Demo asked Tali, who just looked at him before shaking her head and heading to engineering.

________________________________________

Kasumi sat on her couch, window open and stars drifting by, her omni tool pinged as a message came in. Kasumi smiled at the sender’s address, it was Sam from Horizon. The pair had exchanged messaging address and had become fast friends, Kasumi looked forward to their chat sessions about tech and programing.

^Hey Kas! Thanks for that tip on my program, it is working so much better! The alliance has me at the R&D labs, they moved me from my normal work to work with Jormangund Technology! Sorry but I am just so excited, it is not everyday you get to work with such advanced group. The weird thing is that they requested me, I mean who could have even heard of me?^ the message read, Kasumi sighed while smirking.

The twins bad habit was kicking in again, they loved hoarding things. If they think something can be of use to them, they try and snatch it up. That is what happened when they ‘inherited’ Jormangund Technology, and it seemed that they looked Sam over and wanted her for their collection. Kasumi smiled as she typed a response to send off, it would be a few days to get to the krogan homeworld. They needed to stop over for some repairs, after Joker had pushed the ship too hard. 

^Sammy! Glad to hear that tip helped, it was a problem I have had before in my ‘work’. As to you getting to work with Jormangund, congrats on that front. I happen to know that you caught the attention of the co-owners, the twins that save you are the owners. They kept it quiet most of the time, so hope you don’t go blabbing. Also I will be out of touch for a few days, I will message when I am back. Until then don’t go doing anything I wouldn’t. ;)^

Kasumi sent the message off just as, the two minute heads up sounded for the jump to FTL. She smiled happily as she got up and stretched, a pair of chuckles had her whipping around. Her cousins appeared in a shimmer of light.

{Ah, Kassy has a crush!} Eris cooed at her, Kasumi blushed under her hood.

{Shut up! It is not like that!} She bit back, that only made Demo laugh as he moved towards the door.

{Sure, we have not seen you have that look, since Keiji.} Demo vanished as Kasumi gapped at the twins.

{He’s right, Glad to see you found someone, just remember she must meet us proper before you two start fucking!} with that Eris vanished, leaving a sputtering Kasumi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jormangund is a company that was cut from the game, so I figured that it would make for a good one for the twins. let me know what you think about the Kasumi/sammanth Tranyor ship here.


	25. The Rite

Ch.27 Tuchanka 

Wrex sat on his stone throne listening to Gatatog Uvenk prattle on about tradition, suddenly there was the sound of a fight breaking out at the landing area. Wrex heard the cry of pain and rage, he idly hoped that the fight would spill into the main area so he could watch. A few seconds later the sounds faded, Gatatog Uvenk moved on with his talks as if nothing happened. Wrex sighed in boredom, who knew that uniting the clans took so much talking.

As soon as Uvenk was getting back into his stride, the guards near the landing area stirred. Wrex smiled savagely as, what he knew was the cause of his landing guards screaming, walked into the main area. Odysseus ‘Demo’ Shepard stalked into the area, on his left flank his sister and on his right Tali. Wrex waited impatiently for the twins to come, Uvenk continued to talk. 

“You must wait, the chief is in… talks.” One of his guards told the twins. “Shepards.” Wrex called.

“That is our cue.” Demo told the guard, before stalking past.

“Wrex, it is good to see you. Hopefully you can help us with a small problem, we got a tank bred krogan here that is having huge mood swings.” Wrex scented the air, the scent of the whelp as strong.

“Nothing is wrong with him, he is becoming an adult.” Wrex explained, at the tilt of Demo’s head he explained further.

When Wrex reached the part of the rite, Uvenk butted in. “This goes too far, that thing is not Krogan! You can not let it take the rite.” Wrex stepped down from his throne, rearing to his full height he smashed his head against Uvenk.

“Speak when spoken to Uvenk, I will drag your clan to glory wether you like or not.” Wrex growled.

“I like that, can we try that on the council next?” Eris asked, Demo laughed and Wrex smiled.

“Go to the shaman boy, he will decide if you are fit for the rite.” With that the twins bowed and left, Wrex sighed and settled back down to continue the talks.

________________________________________

Eris stood off to the side as Grunt spoke with the shaman, she was reading a new book when Uvenk started objecting. Demo sent her a prompt over their visors, marking her spot she shut down her book and moved. Moving under cloak she crossed the room, without so much as a whisper her molecule blade unfolded to its full length.

Placing the blade’s tip under Uvenk’s throat, she dropped her cloak. “Try fighting our Grunt, and you will learn the true mean of the word fear!” She whispered in his ear, with a sickly-sweet tone.  
“Ha, I like these humans!” The shaman crowed, Uvenk growled as he backed down.

________________________________________

Garrus stood beside Tali on top of the viewing stands, the rite laws demanded a squad of only three. Garrus glared at the monitor, around him Krogan were taking bets on how long the trio would last. Logically Garrus knew that Eris could more than handle herself, but that did not help one bit the desire to be down there covering her flank. Tali seemed to be in the same, as the humans put it, boat.

{If that Bosh’ Tet gets himself hurt, I am going to make him sleep on the couch!} Tali growled under her breath, Garrus snorted. {What?!} she snapped.

“You would end up curled up on the couch with him within an hour.” Garrus tease, Tali kicked him in the shin.

A loud crash drew attention to the pit below them, Garrus watched as Demo’s Omni-shield flared to life. Eris leapt like a earth jungle cat at one of the pillars, she at one began climbing up it, once atop she perched there with her rifle. Grunt roared and began charging the Varren that came running out of the drain pipes, the ring was filled with the sounds of shotgun fire offset with sniper rounds.

Garrus had to admire the way Demo and Eris worked together, it was his first time watching the two fight without being in the middle of it as well. The twins seemed to read each others minds, they never hit the same target or left Grunt without cover. Grunt was the biggest shock with how well he was working with the twins, he never even got near their firing lines. Garrus winced as Demo cut the head off a varren by crushing it with his shield.

“Ha, I always told those two, they just need a Krogan and they are invincible!” Wrex boasted, after Demo taunted a Klik for Grunt to body slam while Eris finished it off.

“if only they were Krogan, my clan would have taken this place over by now!” Wrex laughed, more than one krogan roared their agreement.

‘I will never understand Krogan.’ Garrus thought, half this crowd hated the twins less than an hour ago, now they want them for their clan.

________________________________________

Tali felt the last hammer blow even in the stands, the ground around the arena began to shift. Tali’s jaw dropped in her mask as the biggest Thresher maw she had ever seen rose out of the ground, watching the view screens she could see Demo begin cursing. The twins mask’s lights began to pulse faster, something Tali knew meant that they were working overtime.

{The last test is a thresher?!} Tali screeched so loud she nearly caused a feedback loop.

“Relax, they only have to survive five minutes.” Wrex said calmly, Tali glared at him.

Tali watched in horror as Demo climbed to the top of a pillar, looking at the base of the pillar she saw bombs planted on it. Before she could think to curse, Demo pushed a detonator. The blast toppled the Pillar, sending it down onto the thresher. Demo latched himself to the head of the maw, Tali could only watch as Eris peppered the thing with sniper fire.

“Ha, that human is going to be squished!” A krogan laughed behind Tali, Growling she whipped around and pistol whipped him with her shotgun.

“Ha, I knew I liked you for a reason!” Wrex laughed, the other Krogan looked at Tali with stunned respect.

{Fire in the Hole!} came a loud yell over the speakers, as Demo leapt off the thresher a heartbeat before its head vanished in a gory blast. 

“Did that human just use land mines, planted on the thresher’s head to kill it?” the Shaman asked amazed, Tali sighed face palming.

{That Bosh’ Tet is going to be the death of me.} Garrus patted her back in sympathy, as they watched Eris leap from the top of the pillar.  
________________________________________


	26. Garrus snaps

Ch.26 Mordin’s loyalty. 

{Mordin don’t take this the wrong way, but if your old assistant is willing doing this, I will tear that fucker limb from limb!} Eris snarled, standing over the krogan female’s corpse. 

“If case, will let you, agree that this can not stand.” Mordin agreed, before he said a pray over the corpse. 

{glad to see you have found some faith Mordin, your searching drove us nuts for a while.} Demo piped, from where he and Tali were data mining. 

“Soul searching bothered you? How was far away, left Genophage team before crisis of faith?” Mordin asked, Eris smiled mischievously as him. 

{Oh, Mordin, use that big sexy brain of yours. Who are we?} Eris teased, before tapping her mask that the twins had taken to wearing on missions. 

“Ah, makes sense now, Demons unable to let potential threat go, had to keep tabs for time, sudden movement would cause suspicion.” Mordin rambled, Eris nodded. 

“You stalked people you nearly killed?” Garrus asked, Eris smiled up at him. 

{Of course, I did it for you, and Demo did it for your old partner but he got caught.} Eris teased, Tali looked confused. 

{Wait, you got caught? I thought you had the record of never getting caught?} Tali asked, Eris laughed. 

{Oh no, he got caught in her pretty eyes. Odysseus found her in trouble and helped her out, they dated for I think about, what two years?} Eris asked her brother. 

{Yeah, can we move on, Tali is glaring at the mentions of my old girlfriends.} Demo asked, Eris laughed. ____________________________________ 

Garrus and Tali were pinned down with Mordin by the varren on one floor of the lad exterior, while the twins were pinned down on the floor above them. Garrus watched Tali kick a varren in the face before wedging her shotgun in its mouth and killing it with a single shot, Tali wiped her gun barrel off with a muttered ech. 

“You are picking up bad habits from these Krogan Tali.” Garrus sassed, Tali kicked him in the shin. 

{Demo finds them sexy.} Tali defended, Garrus barked a laugh as he sniped another Varren. 

“what Demo finds sexy, are the kind of things that other call bad habits.” Garrus responded, both froze at the sound of a door blasting open. 

“Ha, puny woman! You can not beat me!” the Krogan chief boasted, Garrus waited to hear the blood choked gurgle of the Krogan dying. 

The sounds of tense fighting could be heard by the trio, Demo’s shotgun barked farther and farther away from the sounds of Eris. The Chief roared and they heard shadow cry out as she smashed into a wall. Garrus had a very bad feeling, out of the twins Eris was better at stealth melee kills but Demo was the only one who could go toe to toe with a Krogan battle master. 

“Hiding wont save you Pyjack, your skull will make a fine cup holder!” the Chief taunted, they heard a roar of pain from where Demo was. 

{Shadow watch out!} Demo cried, Garrus felt sick at the warning. 

{You FUCKING cock sucking, Bosh’ Tet!} Shadow yelled, a brief second after a Varren growled. 

“Found you!” came the Taunt from the Chief. 

Garrus was up and running before he had time to think, he dimly heard Tali and Mordin covering his mad dash. He rounded the corner of the ramp, assault rifle draw ready to help Shadow. What he saw made his blood boil, and turned his vision slightly purple from rage. Demo was still finishing the last of his targets when, the Chief tore the varren off Shadow. 

Shadow screamed in pain, as the teeth were ripped from her arm. The chief hefted her by the throat and smiled cruelly, before smashing her hard into the wall. Then threw her off the platform onto the crates below hard, where she lay unmoving. Garrus dropped his rifle as he screamed in primal rage, his claws tore through his gloves as he ran at the Chief. 

“Ha, one little turian whel-ack!” The chief could not finish, as Garrus drove one of his claws into the Chief’s eyes. 

With a roar the chief backhanded the enraged Garrus off him, Garrus crashed into a crate only to spring back up a second later. A feral growl ripped its way out of Garrus as charged the Krogan again, the chief pistol whipped the turian, only to lose a finger when Garrus bite the finger clean off. The whipping dropped Garrus for as second, only making Garrus pull his Bayonet out of boot, stabbing it into the Krogan’s quad. 

“You Fucking-” the chief started, only to have Garrus lunge stabbing his knife into the mouth of the chief, cutting the tongue out. 

“Shut up you sack of shit!” Garrus roared as he jabbed the knife into the krogan’s eye, before sinking his claws in under the skull plate of the chief. 

With a primal roar Garrus pulled the plate off, Garrus smashed the plate on the ground. The krogan fell to the floor screaming in pain, Garrus stalk over to where he had attack Shadow. Picking up her sword from where the Varren had forced it from her, with a few savage steps Garrus reached the chief. Drawing his arm back Garrus smashed the pommel into the chief’s head. Forcing the chief down, then Garrus was on him Stabbing the Krogan savagely over and over. 

The krogan fought hard, but it was useless in front of a turian trapped in a blood rage. Garrus kept stabbing, soon the chief stopped moving, not that Garrus noticed as he kept driving the blade into the body. After a few minutes where the only sounds were the sounds coming from Garrus and the body he was mutilating, a voice weak as it was broke Garrus out of his rage hard. 

{Garrus, your making a very large mess. Your armor is hard enough to clean, I would rather spend the time getting a massage for my sore back than cleaning.} Eris called weakly, Garrus turned and saw Eris supported heavily by Tali. 

When Garrus ran to hug her Mordin stepped between them. “Sorry, Eris has several fractured ribs, would not survive Turian hug, most likely break ribs and puncture lungs.” Mordin scolded kindly. 

{Guess we wait until Karin can patch me up, huh?} Eris joked, thought Garrus noticed the lower half of her mask was missing. 

The group left to deal with Malen and any remaining Krogan. Eris killed malen, then the twins copied the data. explaining to Mordin that they had promised Wrex years ago that they would work on a cure, Mordin offered to help them as he was already help with the drell cure. Demo mentioned that after he killed the last Krogan, he had recorded the whole of Garrus's episode. to which Eris demanded a copy of, and on the way back overly dramatically swooned over the vid, though everyone could see the love in her actions. 

Tali flushed when Eris sat in her lap, stating that her ribs hurt too much to sit on Garrus and Demo won't mind. Demo was in the process of navigating for mordin who was driving, Tali noticed that Eris was acting a bit off as she draped herself over Tali. Garrus watched with an odd look on his face, and Tali could not help but notice how soft and pleasing Eris was to have in her lap. so she wrapped her arms around the woman, mainly because she was Worried Eris hit her head too hard or something, and a small part was she enjoyed how Eris's curves felt against her suit. ________________________________________ 

Tali stood in the med bay, waiting for Demo’s check up to be done. Eris was laying in bed with medi-gel covering most of her chest. Tali had blushed when Eris stripped her top off. Demo just laid down and Called Mordin over to do the check up, while Karen patched up Eris as Garrus hovered like a nervous wife. 

{Tali you know that you can look over in my direction, right?} Eris teased, Karen told her to stop moving. 

{Wanted to respect your modesty, and privacy!} Tali defended, only to hear Odysseus laugh. 

{And I want you to ogle me like a sex object!} Eris countered, Tali squeaked as Demo pulled her into his lap. 

{Ignore my sister, when she is on pain killers. Eris tends to get Amorous when drugged up, though it tends to bring out her inner guy. In the way when drunk or high she is a skirt chaser.} Demo explained, Tali sighed in relief. 

{Very true, Tali lets have that Foursome you promised me!} Eris called loudly, Demo sighing into her shoulder. 

{This is why we don’t drink often, I am just as bad if not worse.} Demo sighed, Tali realized that explained why Eris coped a feel or three on the way back and when Tali was helping her walk. 

“They are, the first night they ever had drinks, I went to wake them up for their mothers. I found them with three Turian women and two Asari matrons, to this day none of them know how they pulled it off.” Chakwas complained. 

“Also Eris no sex or the like for at least two days, then you are on shore leave along with Odysseus for another week after that. I promised your mothers that you would take breaks, so you will.” Karen threaten, Eris meekly agreed along with Demo. 

{Joker you copy?} Demo called. {Yeah?} Joker answered, using some of the little Khelish he spoke. 

{Karen has ordered shore leave, so head for the citadel.} Demo ordered and Joker sent the ship into FTL.


	27. Chapter 27

Shopping and the pilot scores a date.

 

The moment the Normandy docked on the citadel, the overhead speakers came to life. {Attention by order of Commander Eris, the following are to report to the bridge in five minutes. Miranda, Jack, Tali, Morrinth, Kasumi and Kelly. Report to the bridge!} Eris announced.

In short order the females had gathered, Eris appeared in a shimmer of light leaning on the back of Joker’s chair. The group besides Tali, Kasumi and Morrinth gaped at the outfit their commander was wearing. Her bright blue visor covered her eyes with her suit as usual, but the sashes that were draped around her body were what caught their eyes.

Eris’s usual green sashes were replaced with bright crimson sashes embroidered with silver thread in the pattern of waves, they wrapped around her in a very tight fashion. The hood covered most of her head and hair, but you could still see some of the stark white hair now dyed with streaks of blue. The sashes were wrapped to give the apperances of a very sexy turian styled dress, which showed off her hips and chest. If it was not for the suit underneath the amount of skin being showed would have suited a strip club.

“Damn, Shepard nice outfit, what is the occasion going club crawling with your pet?” Jack wolf whistled, Eris smirked wickedly scaring the females.

{Nope, we are going shopping! Nothing makes for a better shore leave than spending ill-gotten money, so shopping spree courtesy of the late arse hole Dovin Hawk!} Eris sang, spinning her credit chit between her fingers.

“Hell yeah! I knew this mission was going to be fun!” Jack cheered, Miranda smiled widely having told Eris that she did love shopping.

“I had been wondering when you would go on your usual shopping spree.” Morrinth purred, Kasumi laughed and hugged her cousin/sister.

{Demo has already taken the boys to going to the shooting gallery of our company, they are spending the day test firing his latest designs.} Eris explained, as she tossed Joker a chit telling him to enjoy himself.

{First thing we have to do though is hit a store that Admiral Xen told me about, it caters to those who were sashes and robes. So we are getting Tali and I some new sexy clothes, and maybe we can get jack to cover her lady bumps if we find the right style.} Eris stated, with a teasing smirk at jack who gave the finger making her laugh.

Tali was in the change booth trying to get the sashes settled properly, when Eris knocked asking if she needed help. Tali blushed under her mask and called out that she did, unlocking the door she let Eris in who smiled at her. Tali had rarely worn such complicated sashes and robes, unlike her mate and Eris who wore the most complicated designs she had ever seen. With a few sharp movements and tugs the sashes settled properly, Tali was spun to face the full length mirror and was stunned by how good she looked.

{It is moments like this that I feel some jealousy towards Odysseus for winning your heart, I love Garrus with all my heart but damn Tali you really live up to Odysseus’s nickname for you, an angel.} Eris purred in her mics, Tali blushed heavily.

Ever since she had jokingly expressed interest in a four-way Eris had been flirting a lot more, with the exception of when she was drugged she had never been this forward. Tali admitted to Demo that it was a joke at first, but Eris was almost as dear to her as Demo and she was really tempted.

{Eris, about that Four-way…} she began, but Eris cut her off.

{Tali, if you don’t want it that is fine, if the flirting is too much say the word and I back off to what you are comfortable with. If that is none that is fine with me and Garrus, I value our relationship too much to risk it with something that you are not sure about. Garrus is open to it, but that is mainly because Turains have different views on sex.} Eris soothed her, gently rubbing her back and other places that Demo used to calm her.

{No I wanted to say… That If we do this, it has to be somewhere with enough space for us to be comfortable and able to be completely redecorated or never seen again if it goes badly.} Tali blushed as she confessed.

{Well then it is lucky that Demo is a creature prone to pacing, his one of his main safehouses is here on the citadel. It is more than large enough, the bedroom is massive that bed is easily twice the size of a king. Plus Demo is constantly repainting and decorating his safe houses.} Eris explaimed, Tali blushed and smiled.

{Then do you think this one will work for it?} She asked spinning, Eris grabbed her and pulled her closer.

{My brother and I have very similar tastes in Quarian women, and if that does not get my brother straining at his collar to get to you lass, then my brother is missing parts of his brain. Garrus well he has different taste, but will still be more than eager.} Eris promise, Tali smiled and with Eris’s help got changed.

The women hit a ramen stand for lunch, that even had a nutrient paste flavored like their ramen for Tali, after they finished they crawled through a few more stores running into Joker at one store. Just as they were about to leave the area, they noticed a C-sec officer dealing with a Quarian and Volus. Eris casually turned her mics up, what she heard had her storming over there with the others following close behind her.

“I told you I did not take your stupid Chit!” a Quarian woman snapped at the Volus, who scoffed and the officer seemed to besiding with the Volus.

{What is going on here lads and lassie?} Eris asked, her sweet tone had the others of her group freezing as they knew that tone meant trouble.

“This clanless. stole my chit! I felt her. Take it, and I demand. that she be arrested!” The Volus growled, the officer weakly told him to calm down.

“You Bosh’ Tet, I did not, you bumped into me and walked off, you probably dropped it.” The Quarian responded, sounding highly annoyed.

“As you can see it is a minor issue, though she probably stole it, you know how her kind is.” The officer cut in, Eris saw blood red at his tone, while the others in the group began wondering how many bones would be broken by the end of this.

Joker was talking with the clerk at Saronis Applications, when his Omni-Tool buzzed with Eris’s tune. Joker opened it and read the message, and smirked knowing that someone had made the mistake of pissing off Eris’s just by the tone of the message. Turning back to the clerk he asked about a missing cred chit, the Clerk told him that a Volus had left it behind earlier.

“Thanks man, I got to go. The Volus may be back soon, my friend is with him right now.” Joker hobbled off, he knew at once Eris was pissed when he saw her tapping the spot where her throwing knives were tucked.

{Now get the fuck out of here you useless piece of bigitory filth, and your clan can forget about any trading deals you have or were working on with Jormangund technologies. As for you, mister how-about-I-run-you-in we are going to C-sec right now, where you can explain why I should not blow your head of for threating a specter while abusing your power to your bosses!} Eris snarled, Tali and the others were snickering at this point.

{Joker, the girls need to go meet up with the boys to make the match at the gaming center in time, do you mind taking miss Lia'Vael nar Ulnay to my place while I deal with this moron.} Eris asked sweetly, Joker nodded knowing better than to question an irate Eris.

“No problem Shadow, anything else like get her started on the application?” Joker asked, already knowing what Eris was planning.

{Oh, Joker you are simply the best friend a girl could wish for!} Eris hugged him and slipped him a cred chit, whispering to pick the girl up some chocolate and anything else she wanted.

Lia was standing there shell shocked as the group of individuals broke up, the officer was walking meekly behind the quarian dress woman. The Volus waddled away as fast as he could, most likely to try and salvage his clan’s deals. Lia watched the group of females walk away already joking about the event, mocking the officer and Volus. That left her alone with the human male that was hunched over, he had been the one who check for the chit if she remembered the blurring exchanges correctly.

“Thank you for you help, not many would stick up for a Quarian.” Lia thanked Joker, at least that is what she thought his name was.

{Think nothing of it.} Joker spoke in stumbling Khelish, Lia could not have been more shocked.

{You speak Khelish!?} She asked shocked, Joker laughed weakly motioning for her to follow him.

“Only a few phrases here and there, come from being best friends with a pair of twins that were all but raised by Quarians. You saw one back there, Eris and Demo have been friends of the fleet for… well since they were like seven I think.” Joker explained, leading Lia to the pricier part of the citadel.

{Really? I know only two humans that match that description.} Lia asked, thinking that there was no way she had been saved by one of the heroes of the fleet.

“the ones that built the suit program, yep that is them. Ah, you want anything from here my treat… well Eris’s treat really, don’t worry about the price the slavers she took it from can’t spend it when they are dead.” Joker laughed, Lia looked at the massive spread of Dextro treats.

{Thank you so much!} She grabbed a few chocolates and other treats, then joker paid and took her to the richest apartment tower in the station.

Lia was shocked when they rode top to the penthouse, and stepped out after swiping a security card to get out of the elevator. Lia looked around at the massive apartment in awe as it was tastefully decorated in both Quarian and Turian fashions. Joker hobbled over to a desk and tapped a few keys, taking the data pad that was released before turning to her.

“Here Eris will want you to fill this out if you are looking for a job, she and Demo are always hiring Quarians for their company.” Joker handed her that pad, Lia saw it was for a company that she had heard hired a lot of her friends when they had gone on pilgrimage.

Eris entered her apartment later to drop off her clothes and get ready for her date with Garrus, he was taking her to see a show then dinner at a nice quiet place. Eris smiled widely and brought up her visor’s camera function taking several photos of the sight, moving silently she put her bags away. After that she took a nice holo of the scene before getting ready for her date, just before she left she covered the sleeping pair in a blanket while leaving a message for them.

(Eris’s message)

Saw you were both sleeping, so I let you rest. Lia feel free to hang around here tomorrow if I am not back by the time you are up, I want to interview you and get to know you. Joker, help her find anything she needs, and show her where not to go, and yes you may have the pudding in my fridge just not the chocolate one it is not mine it is Garrus’s.


	28. Andromeda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of set up piece for a future work, introducing my Ryders and how my demon twins have managed to influence that new galaxy without ever getting to go there.

Long term plans

 

In the center of Demo’s primary safe-house on the citadel was a small room, shielded and check every three minutes for bugs containing the single most secure com station in existence. It was from here that Demo worked his shadow networks live, the system aboard the Normandy was linked to this one but here he could do so much more with greater speed. From here he could reach anyone of his contacts for anyone of his aliases.

“Greetings Mr. Ryder it is good to be able to speak again.” Odysseus greeted the older man, had a hard and impatient look on his face.

“Did you have time to look over my proposals?” Alec Ryder asked without greeting the specter, Odysseus smiled at the brisk tone.

“I did, if you had brought these designs and suggestions to anyone else you would have been discredited… well more so than you already are.” Odysseus commented, holding a data pad with the proposals.

“Yes, but given what you have done in the past, I think my suggestions pale in comparison.” The man shot back, Odysseus smiled at the lack of fear in dealing with a demon of omega.

“Ha, very true! Well do be careful laddie, I would hate for our hard work to unravel now that we are so close.” Odysseus cautioned, Alec Ryder nodded.

“Remember to send me updates as SAM grows, this is a very interesting idea, but also very dangerous so cut no corners here.” Odysseus ordered before closing the link.

With a few swipes he brought up the blueprint for the ARKs that would one day carry people from this galaxy into another, Eris and him had begun funding the initiative through their company to help outplay the reapers. This way should they fail the races would live on somewhere else, he had taken care to insure that the Quarian and other ‘Minor’ races ark would leave late. That way any massive problems would be encountered long before they arrived, He would always put his adoptive race ahead of all even his birth race.

Another swipe brought up a new channel and a female Turian appeared. {Vetra, how goes the supply lines?} Demo asked his top resource officer, the Turian woman smiled in her race’s fashion.

“It is going great, we have everything we need right now, and a few things that we wished for.” Vetra crowed, Odysseus smiled happily at that.

{Vetra, what are shadow and I going to do when you go?} Demo joked, Vetra laughed lightly.

“Probably drink yourselves blind and wake up with your new resource officer tangled in you human limbs!” Vetra joked, reminding Demo of his first time drinking and meeting Vetra and somehow ended up sleeping with her.

{I doubt that, I am married to my Aingeal now, unless she is there also.} Demo laughed, Vetra smirked.

“The little ship rat virgin all grown up and married, I feel old suddenly.” Vetra teased, Demo flushed a bit.

{I was hardly a virgin, Vetra.} He countered.

“I was your first dextro and Turian, I can take both credit and blame for corrupting the future specters from their acid groups. besides until you have had a dextro you have not had sex!” Vetra and Demo laughed, before getting back to business.

{Any luck finding the author we discussed?} Demo asked, and Vetra cocked a brow plate.

“Really you need to ask? Yeah I found them, guess what, you know Alec’s daughter?” When Demo nodded, she continued. “Turns out little miss support was really quite the expert on reverse engineering tech.”

{Good, pull the string and get her on board, I want the twins on my payroll by the end of the week. Loyal to us not their father, He has a vision for this project, I have a different one.} Demo ordered.

“No worries boss, already on it, the brother is on board and the sis is signing papers as we speak. No worries on the father front, both kids can barely stand being in the same room as him.” Vetra signed off after finishing her report.

Demo finished going over the reports and making sure the ‘Tempest’ was on schedule, after making sure everything he left to get ready for his date. The twins decided to have each a date with their partners before trying the fourway, Tali had another suggestion and the twins had agreed. That once their dates were over the day of the try Tali would go on a date with Eris while Garrus and Demo got the apartment ready, that would also give them time to settle to the idea of being in the same bed as each other.

_-_-_-___-

Moira Ryder sat waiting in reception area, it had been a long week off medical check and background/ psych checks but if she landed this gig it would mean a whole new life. She had a falling out with her father years ago after her mother died, Matthias had taken her side or she took his it was all very blurred for them. But now if she wanted this chance she would be working with her father again, the only reason she was agreeing was this was a chance to explore beyond the know maps.

“Moira, Mr. Shepard will see you now, be warned this may be cut short at anytime, the boss has a lot of things to deal with right now.” An asari doctor named Lexi informed her.

Moira thanked her and entered the room and came face to face with a hologram, Ryder had been expecting a lot of things but not a full-size hologram conducting her final interview. The quarian dress image looked up at her, tapping something out of cam view before looking at her full in the face. She could see nothing because of the mask that he wore, another image blurred into existence and this time it was an elf of a woman dressed very similarly to the man.

{Ello lassie, Glad to finally speak with you, sorry about how long it took to arrange this little talk.} the male spoke with an Irish accent.

“No problem, the company was lovely to look at.” Ryder shrugged, not wanting to fake anything with these two.

{Ha, yes most do find Lexi to be very pleasing to be around, makes it easier for us to get them to sit still for shots!} Eris laughed, Moira smirked.

“if she wore a really skimpy nurses outfit and asked nicely I would let her do a lot more to me.” Moira mentally cringed as her mouth ran away again.

{Ryder, I think that if your brother is anything like you, the pair of you will be very helpful in advancing our goals.} Eris had a smirk in her voice, Moira sighed in relief mentally.

{Anyway, this meeting was really for us to gauge you a bit more, most of those you met already and some you haven’t have been sending reports on the pair of you and your brother for sometime. Tracking down a pen-name using author brought us to you and your brother, an author and her shadow manager will be very useful in setting up a new home.} Odysseus remarked, and Moira was a little bit shocked that they knew about her pen name writing.

“Thank you, I look forward to setting up a new home where every race is treated fairly, I cant stand to watch the Quarian and other races get treated badly for what is not their fault.” Moira said, Seething on the inside at the mention of the bias that she had seen in this world far too often.

{And that is why you were chosen Ryder, the people of minor races will need help in that new galaxy, and if we cant be there for them. We are going to make sure that the best we can send will be there for them. I hope you are ready to get to work, because you have a lot to do and very little time to do it in. your training and lessons begin tomorrow, it will not be easy or too much fun, but we promise by the time you wake from Cryo in six hundred years it will have all been worth it.} Odysseus promised, and after congratulating her on her new position signed off.

Lexi greeted her when she left the office and took her to the quarters, where she would be staying for the next several months as she and her brother trained to and work together ready to leave behind the milky way. Matthias was already there and lounging on his bed reading an asari cook book, that boy ate and lived like one of those huntresses most of the damn time. at least he could cook and cook well, Moira could as well, life on ass end planets eating rations she learned to make the best out of nothing.

“Lights out bro, I have a feeling those twins weren’t joking around about the training.” Moira called and Matthias wave his hand and rolled over, falling asleep almost at once.

‘Not what I dreamed I would ever be doing, but it should be fun.’ Moira thought as she crawled into bed.


	29. Tali's date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in this chapter.

Tali’s Date

 

When Tali had suggested a date between her and Eris, she had been thinking a nice simple dinner or something at Eris’s place not this. Tali looked in awe as Eris guided her gently through a very wealthy section of the citadel’s entertainment district, the entire place was like a higher-class version of Flux in the wards. Eris kept an arm around Tali’s waist the entire time, leaning in to comment on the sights as they wandered towards Eris’s surprise venue for the night.

{Here we are lass! This place is one of the best places on the station!} Eris boasted, Tali looked at the sushi place.

{How did you get a table here? this place takes months to get a seat, and even then, they would never serve my race here!} Tali gasped, Ryuusei was the biggest name in the sushi on the station.

{what can I say lass, I am very good at pulling strings. It does not hurt that the managers and owners owe me a favor or two.} Eris smirked, and pecked Tali on the side of her mask before taking her to the front.

“Ah, madam shadow, right this way your table is already set.” The Asari’s accent was French and Tali knew it was for looking down on people.

“We have prepared the drinks you requested and they will be out shortly with the menus.” With that the Asari vanished to deal with angered guests.

{That woman is famous for being a snotty bitch, what did you do to get her to act like that?} Tali asked, Eris just smiled sweetly at her before taking her hand and holding in hers on the table.

{Told you, the bosses round here owe me a few favors and probably threatened the girl. But enough about her, tonight is about you my fair angel.} Eris’s voice dropped to a purr at the last part.

The drinks turned out to be an asari sweet wine for Eris, that she had cut with a fruit juice and a turian wine treated similar for Tali. Eris made it clear that it was so that they would have a nice and clear head for their fun later, that comment had Tali blushing in her drink. The waiter brought their dinner, Eris had a selection of eel and red snapper dishes. Tali had a fish that the closest to earth fish was yellow fin tuna, or at least that is what Eris guess based on the little she had once by accident when her order at another place had been mixed up.

_-_-_-_-_-

Tali and Eris were window shopping after Dinner and Eris was flirting sweetly the entire time, Tali found that when it came to romance the Twins were eerily similar and was soon very relaxed and happy in the woman’s arms. Eris’s Omni-tool beeped gently, and Tali saw the smirk appear on her date’s face, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. Eris informed her that the room was finished and Odysseus and Garrus were ready for them.

{Should we go?} Tali asked, but Eris shook her head.

{We have one last stop to make first, Demo was kind enough to alert me that I forgot to pick up something for this.} Eris began guiding Tali into the more risqué section.

Before Tali could ask where they were going, Eris pulled her into a lingerie store that catered to several races. Tali blushed as she looked at the several display holos, several of the human ones had Tali wondering what Eris would look like in them. Eris skipped up to a female Turian, who smiled and handed over two bags before pointing to the change rooms.

“Clean change rooms in the back, you know where Eris and if this is the girl I say that you pick right.” The turian said, looking Tali up and down with a professional eye.

{I know my underwear, it was a time had to pick just the right level of slut and lady with tomboy, good thing you guys have such a huge catalogue!} Eris sang, dragging a flustered Tali away from a laughing clerk.

{W-what?} Tali asked nervously, Eris stopped and gave her a soothing hug.

{You want to wow Demo?} At Tali’s meek nod Eris smiled. {Then trust your date, I know what will get my brother’s motor running. Remember we both have done this before, granted the first time was when we were drunk but we have very similar tastes.} Eris soothed, before Shoving Tali into the clean room with the sealed bag of lingerie.

Tali opened the bag after cleaning herself and the room, what she saw inside made her smile. {The clerk was right she chose right.} Tali remarked pulling out the purple cloth.

_-_-_----__-_-_

 

Demo sat in his private reading room trying very hard not to pace, so far he succeeding but if Eris and Tali did not get here soon he might skip pacing, and go straight to climbing walls. No matter what he and Eris told their mates, this was very nerve wracking for the twins, they would never show it to them until after the fact. Both twins wanted nothing but the best for their mates, so the idea of this going badly was making the twins very high strung.

Garrus had not helped the matter by trying to touch things he was not supposed to, like trying to weaponize Demo’s kettle. Demo had barely avoided the defence system triggering and killing Garrus, that was not something he wanted to explain to Eris. Telling her that Demo’s wall mounted turret-lamps had killed her husband, would likely have gotten him maimed badly. Demo heard his door open and the pair of women enter, Eris had sent a message saying both Garrus and Demo were to not see them until they called the boys in.

When the call came, Demo entered the room and nearly ran into Garrus, the large turian was just standing there stiff, Demo slipped around him and froze as well at the sight. Tali was out of her suit and in a set of underwear, that Demo knew she had never worn before as he would have remembered it. Tali smirked and Eris chuckled slightly from their positions on the large round bed, Eris was dressed a blue matching set to Tali’s not that Demo really care. He could see the beauty in his sister, but that was more like say a paint was nice to look at, it did nothing for him it was Tali that had him hard and ready.

 

Tali’s silver hair glowed softly, highlighting her bioluminescence eyes. She wore a deep royal purple outfit that had Demo’s jaw on the floor, a pair of lacy boyshorts with the croutch and part of the ass missing. The tops were a matching color with the bottom part of the cups solid and pushing up her modest breasts, the upper part was sheer lace that allowed the boys to see an outline of her nipples, with sheer purple stockings to complete the outfit.

{I think we broke the, Tali!} Eris laughed, leaning over to snake an arm around Tali’s waist, hand beginning to play with her sex.

{I would say not broke for myself, a man must always stop to offer silent prayer and thanks to the heavens when it sends down two angels to him.} Demo countered in smooth voice, bowing deeply before stalking forward, smacking the back of Garrus’s head on the way.

“uhh, right what Demo said Cor, you two were to good looking for me not to thank the spirits.” Garrus stuttered, both the men with in only their shorts.

Demo crawled forward to kiss Tali, feeling her soft skin under his hands as she melted into the kiss. Suddenly she squeaked and jumped, as Eris slid a finger into her cunt. Demo smirked and captured her lips again, signalling Garrus to lay down behind Tali. Once Eris had Garrus in position she ran a nail across Demo’s shoulder, without missing a beat Demo flared his Biotics making Tali light as a feather. With a quick moved that left Tali’s head spinning, the twins had her straddling Garrus’s hips with Demo right behind her and Eris in front of her.

{Ready to try turian for the first time?} Eris purred, Garrus groaned as Tali shivered on his hips.

{Yes?} Tali sounded nervous, Demo wrapped her in a tender embrace.

{Anigeal, I will be here the entire time, just say Cerberus and we stop, no questions asked. This is for all of us if one is not having a good time then there is no point.} Demo soothed, Tali nodded before swallowing and looking Eris in the eye, the twins went without their visors tonight.

{Can you Kiss me while Demo g-guides me on?} Tali asked blushing heavily, Eris smiled widely.

{Oh, you have no idea how long I have been wanting this!} Eris whispered in her ear, before she began a slow and gentle kiss.

Demo and Garrus Lined Tali and Garrus up, Demo’s hands roving before entering Tali to help stretch her out. Garrus was bigger than Demo, and thus a lot larger than most Quarin men would be so Tali needed to be readied before she could take Garrus. Demo felt her core flutter, and a few moments later she groaned into Eris’s mouth as she came. Demo took the moment where she was at her most relaxed to slide Garrus part way in, letting her get used to the thickness. Soon enough Tali was Riding Garrus full force while Demo played with from behind, and Eris from the front, when Garrus started eating Eris out making her jump and let out a girlish squeak.

{O-Odysseus, please I want you in me! Please I want to feel both of you!} Tali begged, Eris and Odysseus looked at each other shocked, that had not been something they had even considered.

{My Anigeal’s wish is my command.} Demo promised, as he began slowly readying her ass.

Once she was ready he entered, slowly cursing slightly as her tight heat and moans threated to undo him right there. It did not take long for the four to come as one, the rest of the night past in a blur of sex and pleasure. Demo collapsed onto the bed, holding Tali to his chest, Garrus doing the same next to him. Eris and Tali curled against their mates smiling widely.

{That was fun, not something I want to do every night, but something for special occasions.} Tali remarked.

{Like when we return from the other side of the omega-4 relay?} Eris asked, Tali laughed and agreed.

{Time for sleep, Thane requested that we talk with him tomorrow.} Demo shushed them, Tali giggled and fell asleep in the arms of the man she loved.


	30. Thane's Loyalty part one of two

Ch.30 Thane’s Loyalty

 

A deafening alarm had Tali bolting up right panicking, looking around her she remembered last night and blushed heavily. Eris groaned behind her and smacked Garrus on the crest a few times, Garrus groaned and grabbed her hand sighing.

“Cor, I am not the alarm clock.” Garrus groaned, Eris smacked him with her other hand. {It is on your visor, you deal with it.}

“It’s off, but we need to get up now.” Garrus explained, as he crawled out of bed, Tali right behind him.

{Eris, your boytoy is annoying in the mornings.} Demo groaned as he crawled out of bed, heading straight for the shower, and grabbing Tali on the way by.

{Not my fault you promised Thane such an early meeting time.} Eris grumbled, weakly resisting Garrus picking her up out of bed and carrying her to the guest washroom.

###

{Just so we are clear, you want us to stop your son from following in his father’s footsteps?} Eris clarified, as they sat in Thane’s safe house on the station.

“Yes, I do not know how he found out about my old contacts, or how he convinced them to hire him.” Thane explained, Demo face palmed.

{Thane, you are arguably one of the best assassins in the game, even retired your name carries weight. It is no surprise that the contractors think he is both son and heir to the Krios assassin name.} Demo explained, Thane blinked slowly then nodded.

“Yes, that makes sense, now however we are faced with the problem of finding him before he falls from the path.” Tali felt bad for Thane, the man sounded so sad.

###

Mouse was looking over his order list for his latest client when he felt a shiver, he was a form duct rat and had long since learned to trust these feelings. Casually closing his data pad, he pocketed it, at the same time he worked his hold out pistol and knife loose from their sheaths. A laugh like a peal of bells rang from right behind him, in the narrow amount of space between him and the wall.

{Mouse, your instincts are scary!} A laughing male voice taunted, as Demo appeared in front of him and Shadow behind him.

“Fuck, really you two, you two nearly gave me a heart attack-GAH!” Mouse snapped, until he saw Krios walking with a quarian and turian making him scream.

“Calm yourself Mouse, we are here to ask some questions.” Krios informed him, Mouse started paling as he glanced at the twins.

{Not those methods Mousey, you kids always did good work for us and still do.} Shadow soothed, Mouse relaxed.

{Were looking for Thane’s son, the fool is determined to ruin his life by following his father’s foot steps.} Demo explained, Mouse cursed.

“Shit, sorry Krios, I thought he had your blessing!” Mouse apologized, pulling out his other ‘work’ datapad and forwarded the info to the twins and Krios.

“I am impressed to parted with this information so easily Mouse, this man is very dangerous.” Thane remarked.

“Krios you and the twins have always done right by us kids, do you know how many of us off the streets because of you three?” Mouse asked, the Quarian cooed and hugged Demo while the turian just wrapped an arm around Shadow.

‘Wow, first time I have seen Demo allow someone besides Shadow to hug him.’ Mouse thought, Eris broke into his thoughts though.

{Three hundred and sixty-eight through Demo and I, no idea on Thane’s side though.} Shadow answer, Mouse looked at her and she shrugged and pointed at her visor.

After a bit more talking and the twins buying copies of the VIs the group left, twins vanishing in a shimmer of light. Mouse smirked and opened an email from one of his clients, looking at the list and beginning to run tallies in his mind as he walked off. The twins were back so Mouse needed to change his prices, those two were going to cause a stir in the underworld again so that would make his job harder, but he did not mind one bit if it meant they were back.

###

Thane watched beside Tali’Zorah and Garrus as the twins began talking to the police chief, who was refusing to bring in Elias Kelham for questioning. Thane was mildly surprised that the twins had elected to even go through the police channels instead of attacking the man directly.

{Bailey, give us one reason why you won’t.} Odysseus argued, Bailey sighed and looked around to make sure no one else could hear.

“Believe me shepards, I would love to hand you his ass on a platter, but he buys enough tickets to the policemen’s ball.” Thane frowned, that would complicate things, or so Thane had thought.

{How many tickets a year?} Eris asked, Bailey looked at her strangely. “Buys around four every year why?”

{Okay, that makes this easy. Eris and I on behalf of our groups buy eight a year, not to mention the other services bailey.} Odysseus remarked, Bailey frowned in thought before smiling.

“Right, thanks for the reminder, your company does a lot of work for this force. So, this would be the least I can do.” Bailey smiled wickedly, moving to place the needed calls.

It did not take long for Mr. Kelham to be brought in.

###

“What’s going on? Where is bailey, where is my lawyer!?” Kelham yelled, as a pair of guards dragged him into a room and cuffed him to the chair there.

Kelham looked around him and saw the room was bare, only a door and a two-way mirror along with a small table off to the side. The door opened and in walked a pair of humans dressed in quarian armor, wearing black masks with glowing lines, and a drell followed them in. The male human walked over to the table, placing a black armored case on it, the woman began circling him, while the Drell just moved to a corner.

{Mr. Kelham, we have a few questions for you.} The male asked, Kelham laughed.

“Fuck you, do realize when Bailey realizes that I am here your career is over?” Kelham smirked, but his expression contorted into a scream of pain as the woman snagged one of his pinkies and snapped it.

{Mr. Kelham, we are council specters, Bailey was under our orders to bring you in. Now all we want is the name of the target you hired an drell assassin for, resist and Demo here opens case and uses the tools in it, just me when I tell you this… Demo has broken members from every race, and as a specter, do you think anyone will object to your treatment, I mean your not really well liked by anyone in power after all?} Kelham felt his blood run cold as he finally put two and two together and got four.

“Alright, Alright I’ll talk, it’s Talid now please let me go!” Kelham begged, the woman laughed as the man packed up.

{You can go when your lawyer arrives, enjoy the chair, your lawyer is dealing with paper work… something about unpaid packing tickets?} the man mocked as the trio left and Kelham struggled against the bindings.


	31. Chapter 31

Thane’s Loyalty part two

 

Eris followed Thane’s son from the rafters above, while Demo cleared the rafters ahead of her. Thane was following in the shadows on the ground, with Tali and Garrus in a pair of skycars keep the engines warm and providing comm controls. Demo’s voice broke over the comm as he encountered a problem.

{This is Spectre business, just get moving and we won’t have any problems. We will be gone in a few minutes.} Eris sighed, seemed like one of the rafter works had wandered into this mess.

{I understand that point of view, here is my counter argument…} Thud the sound of a fist connecting followed by another Thud as the body hit the floor. {Glad you agree with me!} Eris smiled, passing through the door in time to see demo dragging a young man’s unconscious body into a corner.

{You need to work on your people skill.} Was all she said, getting into position while Demo moved off.

{Hey, my people skills are great just ask Tali.} Demo countered, Tali laughed. {They’re not that great my love, your other skills though…} Demo laughed at her sultry teasing.

###

Kolyat stalked through the crowd, gaze locked on his target and the man’s guard. The gun in his coat felt heavy and cold against his chest, he could not shake this feeling that eye were watching him from the shadows. Shaking his head, he began moving faster through the crowd drawing the weapon quickly, he emerged from the crowd and took aim, when a male voice yelled out.

{Kolyat!} This made the guard turn and see Kolyat, cursing he fired several rounds at his target only for the guard to go down blocking them.

As the man ran he gave chase, with a brief glance he saw the man who had yelled was gone. Kolyat ran hard after the target, the turian darted into a room with Kolyat only a step behind. With a few sharp orders, he had the turian on his knees and heads above his head, Kolyat stepped behind him and leveled the pistol. Head could bring himself to killed the man while looking him in the eye, so a shot to the back of the head was the best choice.

The door opened and in swept his father, Kolyat could not believe his eyes. “You! You pick now to show back up, after all these years!” Kolyat snarled at the older Drell, missing the sound of something landing behind him.

“I am sorry my son, I let revenge consume me. After your mother died I hunted her killers and left behind the only good thing I brought into this universe… I failed your mother when my enemies killed her to get to me, but I will not fail this time I hope you understand this is for your own good.” Kolyat frowned in confusion, right before a puff of pale blue smoke hit him in the face, the hand holding the spray can retreated behind him.

{Easy lad uncle Demo’s got you.} was the last thing he heard, before he passed out in a stranger’s arms.

###

Eris sat with her brother and team waiting for Thane to exit the room, Bailey had give them a room to use for Thane’s talk with his son. Bailey also helped the twins spin all this to catch the fool who had hired Kolyat, making so Kolyat was working as an agent of the spectre’s, Kolyat would serve a term of community service on the force as punishment.

{How is he?} Eris asked when Thane exited the room, Thane smiled slightly.

“He is still angry with me, but we are talking so it is progress. Thank you both for this, I would not have made it in time without any of you.” Thane bowed, Tali beat Eris to the hugging of Thane.

{Thane, you don’t need to thank us.} Tali told him, Eris nodded.

{Besides, your basically family!} Eris tacked on, before standing and waving to the group. {Later Garrus and I have a date!} Garrus shrugged and followed after his wife, Demo and Tali left not long after that, telling thane to take it easy.


	32. Eye for an Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eris is nothing if not protective of what is her's and she will do anything to protect Garrus... Even from himself. Dark chapter ahead folks, and another glimpse into the past of Shadow the assassin.

Eye for an Eye

 

Eris rolled over and woke up, frowning she reached for her visor and slipped it on. Reaching under her nightstand she pulled out her hold out pistol and collapsible molecule blade, without a sound she slipped out of her bed and room. Garrus was not in her bed which sent alarm bell blaring in her head, very few things got Garrus to leave her side when she was ‘Defenceless’ since she had returned from the dead Garrus had become obsessed with her safety.

“Your sure that this lead is good?” Eris froze at the sound of Garrus talking, he sounded very tense.

“Alright I will wire you the money, thanks Barla.” The name of one of her best info broker contacts put her teeth on edge.

{Is there a reason you needed to hire Barla?} Eris asked, Garrus jumped and whirled looking very upset.

“Barla found a lead on Sidonis, a scum bag here on the station named fade makes people vanish and help them start over.” Garrus explained, sub vocals radiating hate.

{Alright, let my get dress and we will go have a talk with this fade laddie.} Eris told him, already on her way back to their room to get dressed.

###

Garrus stalked into the cargo room with Shadow slinking in behind him, cloaked and armed in case this went as she liked to put it ‘To hell in a handbasket.’ A pair of krogan flanked a Volus. Garrus looked him up and down, Shadow sent a message into his Visor to alert him that she was in position. The Volus began posturing and Garrus knew that this was not fade, and he said as much.

“You. Dare to. Question me? Kill him!” The Volus yelled, only for a shot to ring out and slam into the panel in front of him.

“I have a sniper who could kill you before those two move a muscle, I want Sidonis and Fade. Give me what you know and you live, if not my sniper removes your head with a sniper round!” Garrus snarled, The Volus was quick to give up the name.

Shadow appeared in front of him. {Garrus it is not like you to threaten like that.} Shadow sounded concerned, but Garrus was too focused on his hate.

“Harkin, that bastard was a disgrace to C-Sec before now he is scum! He will pay for all the shit he has done, Sidonis will get his to, he will die slowly!” Garrus growled, missing the concerned body language of Shadow.

{Let’s head back to the house, I need to grab some better gear if we are going up against the blue suns and heavy arms.} Garrus nodded and climbed into the sky car, missing once again the subtle signals that Shadow was upset.

When they arrived at the safe house Garrus entered first, hearing Shadow speak he tensed and started to turn but he was too slow. {I am sorry Sweet Fang, I promised myself that I would always protect you from the darkness even if it meant going things like this.}

Garrus felt a needle slide into his neck, at once a numb spread throughout his body. Shadow lowered him gently to the floor and shut his eyes, Garrus wanted to scream and rage but the serum had done its job and soon he was out.

###

Eris moved Garrus to the bed and tied him down tight, before moving to the closet and pulling out her black mask and shadow armor. Once she was changed and armed with her best gear she pulled up her comm and called Thane, normally she would call Demo but this was something that she had to do and wanted to do it alone.

{Thane I need a favor, Garrus nearly crossed the line into the depths. I drugged him and he is at my safe house, I need you to come and watch over him while I take care of something.} Eris asked once Thane picked up.

“Of course, I will be over shortly, may the gods guide your hands shadow.” Thane said, Eris smiled and left the house.

###

Harkin paced the control room of the shipping yard, every pass of the window he stopped to glance out. Word had reached him that Garrus was after him and looking for someone Harkin had helped vanish, Harkin remembered how stubborn Garrus was back when he was in the force, and rumors had him getting more dangerous than ever.

{Harkin you have some information that I want.} A speaker buzzed voice echoed through the room, Harkin spun panicking as he recalled the last time he heard that voice.

“What do you want!?” Harkin yelled at the empty air, a cold as space voice laughed.

{Sidonis, give him to me and turn yourself in and I don’t have to kill you for being in my way in more way than one. I am not a lady that likes it when people cut in on my business and when you help my companies targets vanish, it cuts my profit which means I cut you in return, unless you give me Sidonis.} Harkin cursed his luck, he knew that his men would never get here in time to kill her before she was gone and he was dead in a pool of blood.

“Alright just don’t kill me!” Harkin begged, he took the laugh that answered him as agreement and arranged the meeting before collapsing to his knees.

{Remember Harkin, turn yourself in or you and I will be having a very long talk that ends with C-Sec finding your suicide note!} the voice hissed in his ear, after a moment the room felt warmer and emptier than before and left Harkin sobbing on the ground.

###

Sidonis entered the plaza and was at once pulled into an alleyway, forced against the wall he found himself staring down the barrel of a SMG held by a small human female. Sidonis did not need to be told who this was, Garrus’s few talks about her looks told him this was his mate back from the grave.

“This is a sick joke! My entire career on Omega I looked up to the legend of you and your twin, now I die by your hand? Not like I don’t deserve it… Hey can I ask you for a last wish? Nothing to delay my death, just something I should have done.” Sidonis Addressed the small human who tilted her masked face.

{I am willing to grant you the right to voice it, you once protected Garrus even if you betrayed him once you saved him several times. I will hear your request.} Sidonis blinked, he had expected to be shot in cold blood.

“I was tortured, I tried to resist, I really did but I am not like Garrus and caved. I betrayed them and like a coward I ran, I have not been able to get their faces out of my head since! I can’t sleep or even eat much, and what I can force down is like ash, I failed them they were my family and I BETRAYED THEM! Please tell Garrus I am sorry, I would give my life to bring them back but I can’t!” Sidonis fell to his knees half way through and punched the ground as he yelled, he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder and another made him look up at a pair of silver eyes.

{I will not kill a man who made a hard choice, I have been through what you have. I have sentenced friends and brothers and sisters in arms to die for me to live, I will not give you the mercy of death. You will bear the weight of your sins for as long as you live, at I am going to make sure you spend what is left of it making their deaths worth something.} The black mask slid back on and a ping on his Omni tool sounded.

{That is the address and accesses codes for a cargo bay, report there within twenty four hours or I will hunt you down and kill you slowly, the agents there will take you under their wing. You belong to me now, and you will work to repay the debts you own your brothers in arms, this most likely will be the last time we see each other unless you betray me then you will never see me but I will see you seconds before I kill you!} Sidonis watched as Shadow vanished in a shimmer of light, standing weakly he began moving toward the cargo bay in his Omni-Tool, he had work to do.

###

Garrus woke up in his and Eris’s bed at her safe house, looking around he saw Shadow sitting across the room on their couch in her old combat gear complete with mask. “So, what did you do with them?” Garrus asked, Shadow’s masked face turned to him.

{Harkin is in prison and won’t be getting out in his life time. Sidonis say he is sorry and wants you to know that he would gladly give his life to bring them back but knows it won’t.} Garrus growled, Shadow held up her hand to forestall his explosion.

{He is now under the watch and training along with service of Demo and I’s private agents for our company, he will spend the rest of his life working in extremely dangerous assignments to make sure your team did not die for nothing. His life will not be easy or pleasant but he was already dead inside from grief, so I will let him make what remains of his soul and life along with time count. The lad made a hard choice, one that no one knows what their answer will be until their in it. you will never see him again, he died officially today, from now on he is a ghost that serves me.} Garrus sighed, Shadow did not move.

“That is for the best, now I need a shower care to join me?” Garrus offered, knowing that he had crossed the line and Eris had pulled him back before it was too late.

{Laddie you know just what to say to a lass to get her hot under the collar!} Eris laughed taking her mask off and leading the way into the shower.


	33. Chapter 33

IFF retrieval mission

 

The ground team gathered in the briefing room around the table, it had been three days since Garrus had dealt with his ghosts and now with the upgrades done the ship was bound for it’s next target. In the center of the table a hologram of their target floated, the derelict reaper with a ship attached to it’s side. The entire team looked at the thing with unease, the ship was massive and they needed to go inside what was once a living ship.

{Alright lads and lasses here is the game plan, this will be a small op with a quick dart and grab. TIMmy wants us to find out what happened to the crew, but that is not happening unless we find out on our way through.} Demo began, Eris nodded and the hologram zoomed in on entry point.

{Okay here is how it is going to work, because I don’t trust that bastard to be fully dead we are go a different route for teams. I will be leading a team, the only team going in, of people with the biology to stand the best shot of being unaffected by the powers of the damn ship.} At once there was cries of protest from everyone, but the twins and their mates who already knew the squads and the reasons.

{No but, we can’t risk anything, the research crew vanished so we can’t take chances. I am going, along with Legion, Kasumi, grunt and Jack. Legion is immune to the effects because of his machine nature.} Demo began, Legion stand in the corner nodded and it’s optics whirred wider.

{Kasumi and I both have grey boxes which will let us know at once if something starts messing with our brain chems, Grunt is a Krogan which based on what research we have seem to be able to stand it for longer. Jack’s implants and Biotics are so closely linked to her mental state and brain chemistry that the reaper will not be able to affect her for the short time we will be there.} Demo finished and Eris stepped up to explain the rest of the plan.

{The rest of us have our own missions, no sitting on our romps lads and lasses. Tali and EDI will be cataloguing the data sent over onto an air system, to keep any viruses where they belong. Mordin and I will be in the lab monitoring the vitals and brain waves of the retrieval team for signs of reaper tampering. Garrus will be in the main battery keeping the gun warm,

{if this goes south we will need our new cannon ready. Miranda will be in the cargo bay with the rest of you to launch a rescue if needed. That said if worst comes to worst and it is needed, Thane you are taking the mantis and Miri will take my shuttle.} Thane and Miranda exchanged worried glances both praying they would not need to pilot the ships that were worth more to the twins than everyone on the ship minus joker and their mates combined.

The ship rumbled and Joker’s voice came over the speakers. “We have breached the atmo for the planet, show time!”

###

*Shepard-Captain movement detected. Scan results; inorganic/ organic hybrid detected, Husks inbound. * Legion called, Demo cursed as he shoved the IFF into his backpack, Jack and Grunt laughed.

{Weapons free! If it looks reaper tech then shoot first and sort them out later! Legion start finding us a route out of here, we need to sink this bloody ship so plan for that.} Demo snapped, Jack and Grunt grinned savagely as Legion confirmed it had already begun planning a route.

“Damn the fucker is glowing red?” Jack yelled as a red husk crawled up onto the walk ways with the rest, a shot from grunt made it explode.

“HeHeHe, it is explosive, Battlemaster you find the best targets!” Grunt roared as he back handed a husk that got close of the walkways.

{Glad to be of service lad, now Legion lad lead the way.} Demo ordered, Legion rose from where it had taken cover to blow a husk’s head off before advancing.

“Alright a fucking moving shoot gallery!” Jack cheered, sending a shock wave through the horde sending them sailing.

###

{Joker be ready to leave, we have the IFF and the ship is going down. We are on our way lad, I want to be out of the system ASAP when get there!} Demo’s voice echoed over the comms, sound of shotgun fire in the back ground.

“You heard him EDI, start mapping route ‘A’. Doc get ready the team is coming in, Tali get ready to secure that reaper shit.” Joker called over the comms, already moving the ship to the extraction point.

*Mister Moreau collector vessel detected on long range scanner.* EDI informed Joker, who started cursing.

“Garrus buddy, get that cannon fully charged, we have old friends inbound!” Joker called over the comms, Garrus confirmed he was ready.

{We are at the point and could use a lift Joker! Hopefully before the husks make it through my mines!} Demo yelled over the comm, an explosion sounding in the background.

*Anchoring process complete, I recommend boarding captain. * EDI informed them, Joker watched the monitors waiting for the last person to cross before slamming the doors shut and breaking the connection.

“EDI are we clear?” Joker demanded as he swung the ship to begin the jumps, EDI responded and Joker cursed. *Negative the Collector vessel blocks the route.*

“Joker get ready to jump, I am about to give you an opening!” Garrus ordered, Joker raced through the positioning before calling ready.

The cannon lit up and a salvo fired, the impact caused the shields to flare on the collector ship. The ship moved to dodge a second salvo that never came, instead the Normandy rocketed through the opening created and jumped as soon as it hit the relay. Joker cheered as the ship began journey back to safe haven, Demo and the ground team were debriefing down in the med bay so Joke decided he earned a reward and opened his email. Inside was an email from Lia'Vael that he had been wanting to read, but it had arrived right before they went dark to avoid ambushes on route.

{Joker take us back to the Omega, I don’t trust that damn IFF so we need to test it safely. Bare crew only everyone else off ship for the tests.} Demo ordered, Joker smiled and began plotting the route.

“Drinking before the last hop cap?” Joker asked, Demo laughed.

{What can I say lad? I want one last night out before we travel to hell!} Demo laughed, Eris laughing in the background.


	34. Drunk Twins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never leave these two alone when they drink, body's drop and shit happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to the number of times this has been asked for, here it is the twins are drunk and not in mourning this time. If you want more comment and let me know.

Never let the twins drink for fun

 

Garrus and Tali sat across from each other in the mess hall, Tali sat humming as she read some emails from her old team. The twins had announced that while EDI and Joker ran tests on the IFF on an isolated system the ground crew was mandated to attend a shore leave bash. Thus, shortly after Tali had finished putting on her nicest sashes and garrus finished his own prep they had both been kicked out by the twins so they could get ready.

“Where are your sneakier halves?” Kasumi asked, slinking out of her ‘room’ dress in her normal out fit with a brighter color pattern of reds and golds.

“Kicked us out to get ready.” Garrus explained as the rest of the crew arrived.

“Oh then you are in for a treat, those two know how to clean up.” Kasumi said in a sly tone, Miranda raised an eyebrow.

“Really, do they own anything besides armor and enviro suits?” Miranda joked, the elevator opening as she finished.

Garrus who had been facing the elevator went slack face at what he saw, Tali turned and her along with the rest of the ground team minus Zaeed, Kasumi and Legion who came to see the crew off. Eris stepped out first, her long snow-white hair braided into six braids down her back, gone was her suit and hood. Instead of her normal clothes she wore a form hugging royal blue with silver accents Chinese dress, with a belt slung across her hips holding her SMG and blade, visor covering her eyes was the only jewelry. She wore fingerless gloves marked with Garrus’s clan marking on the backs, but what dropped Garrus’s jaw was the sharp crisp clean blue markings on her face, his colony marking plain as day.

Demo shocked the team just as much when he stepped out, Tali whispering a ‘Keelah!’. With a Chinese sleeveless shirt of deep purple and gold tracings, and elbow length matching fingerless gloves. His pants were black as coal and smooth and tight until his mid shin where they flared. Tali’s clan markings ran up the gloves in a bright gold, with Demo’s twining around them. His snow-white hair was cropped short but had bright streaks of purple running through them accenting his Visor, strapped to his thighs were his shotgun and bomb pouch on the other one.

{Well who is ready for one last party before we introduce those collectors to the real meaning of fear?} Eris joked, breaking the stunned silence.

Garrus and Tali joined their mates and the group left, heading to the bar Tali noticed something odd. A lot of Aria’s men lined the streets all holding their guns in plain sight with a grim look, Demo had told her that they had messaged Aria that they were coming for a nice fun night of drinking with their crew. Apparently, Aria took that as a warning to insure nothing set the drunk twins off, which would likely lead to a large amount of property damage Tali guess, given how much explosive Demo could pack into the pouch strapped to his right thigh. 

###

When the ground team arrived at Afterlife the group began breaking up, Miranda and Kasumi went off to play some poker like games. Jacob was dragged off by Mordin for ‘drinking experiments’, Thane vanished almost as soon as they entered the rooms. Morinth vanished saying that she was going to check in on some of her ‘friends’, Zaeed grumbled something about finding a stripper and left.

Garrus just followed Eris’s lead as she dragged him towards the bar, hanging off his arm the entire time, seeming to take great pleasure in the death glares he was getting from other partiers. Demo had a possessive arm around Tali’s waist and was glaring at anyone who looked at her twice, funny or not. Garrus saw the bar tender look up at them and raise an eyebrow before pouring a pair of shots and passing them to the twins.

“Here drinks on the house.” The Batarian bar tender said, Garrus frowned at something in his body language.

Demo and Eris placed their hand on the shots, and Garrus saw a small barely noticeable flash of a scanner come from their gloves. Demo lower his hand and in a flash had his shotgun out and, his other hand lashed out like an earth viper to seize the tender by the collar. Eris had also pulled out her SMG and had it armed.

{You have a lot of nerve buddy, smearing Aria’s name like that!} The crowd around the bar began shifting nervously, Garrus also noticed the bouncers approaching.

“W-What are you talking about?!” The Tender stammered, Eris smiled sweetly as she tapped the rim of the shot with her gun.

{Aria would never kill clients like this, a shot the is lethal to all levo animos? That is amateur stuff.} The crowd became angry very quick with that comment.

“This true, you are running our queen’s name through the mud bastard!” a bounce growled as her drew level.

“N-No” “Then drink the shot!” One death glare later and the tender down the shot only to start coughing up blood and die in seconds.

“Drink for you four are on the house for the rest of the night.” Was all the bouncer said before dragging the corpse away as an asari bar tender passed them a new set of shots.

{A good way to start the evening, a toast to the death of a rank amateur killer!} Demo toasted his twin and their mates, Garrus downed his shot and shivered at the burning taste.

###

(Many drinks later)

Garrus knew he was at his limit for drinking, the edges were beginning to blur a bit, turning to tell Eris as much he received a nasty shock. Eris had vanished, before Garrus could panic too much, he noticed Demo was also gone and Tali was looking in the direction of a gambling table. Garrus’s panic began increasing again as he watched to his horror Demo and Eris playing the turian version of poker.

“Oh, that’s bad. Garrus, Tali why did you let those two drunks near a gambling table?” Kasumi asked concerned, as she half carried a slightly bruised Miranda to their table.

{Keelah, what happened!?} Tali gasped, when the bruised XO sat down.

“Miri learned head butting is not a smart thing to do when the other person is wearing a helmet.” Kasumi teased, Miranda groaned.

“Anyway, I am going to go get my darling cousins before they start a brawl.” Kasumi started to move away when they all heard it.

“I saw that look, your eyeing my girl!” A krogan roared, only for Demo to be heard laughing.

{She made eyes at me, you can’t even see my eyes! Besides not my fault your not man enough to hold your lady’s attention, but who can blame her? Whelp krogan with an over compensating problem or a human that knows what he needs to be deadly and does not carry more?} Kasumi face palmed at the taunt.

“This is why we never leave those two alone, Eris hits on everything that moves and Demo somehow makes things worse by losing the control on his taunting.” Kasumi muttered, as the Krogan roared and flipped the table and charge Demo.

Garrus started out of his seat to help Demo when the roar of the specter’s shotgun went off and the Krogan fell dead, Garrus gapped at the sight of Demo laughing madly as the Krogan’s body slowly stopped twitching.

“How did that happen?! I have seen a Krogan take a shotgun roar to the head and keep going?” Jacob asked as he staggered over slightly drunk.

“Brust rounds, Demo uses them when he is out on the town. Too expensive other wise. Each round is like a small hand grenade going off, and shot into the mouth anything will die.” The Krogan bouncers trudged by to drag the body away and right the table.

“now let’s go find the twins and get out of here before they add more bodies to the count.” Kasumi suggested, Garrus nodded and began scanning for Eris, who was now talking with a pair of Asari workers and gesturing towards him.

“That is not good.” Garrus remarked worriedly, Eris skipped over to him and jumped into his lap kissing him without warning.

{You, me and these two, private room now!} Eris ordered and began dragging him off, Garrus looked for help as he fended off his drunk wife.

“Oh, no that keeps her out of trouble until we find out where Demo vanished to.” Kasumi said pushing him after Eris, Garrus sighed and followed his wife.

###

Tali found Demo at the strippers section of the bar talking with one of the strippers, Tali slightly drunk became slightly jealous and stormed over but stopped short. {I just want to know, what gels work best with dextros?}

“Honey, that is a hard one. Some girls like the icy hot and others just like the burning, talk with your girl.” The Stripper suggested.

{I tried once, I got the shy ‘anything you want’. So come on for old times sake, you have had far more relationships with Quarians than I have. What nerve programs and gels are best for experimenting.} Demo’s bur was a lot thicker with how drunk he was, Tali felt touched and embarrassed that Demo would go so far for her.

“Fine, buy an hour room and private session and I will go over it all… Your lucky your charming!” The asari told him.

{Tali come on, Terra is going to help pick!} Demo yelled, making Tali remember his visor had built in cams for 360 vision. Sighing Tali went with him messaging Kasumi that she managed to keep Demo out of trouble for the next hour.


	35. Through The Relay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pops head out of hole* Yo, I am back did you miss me? Sorry for the long waits, my series fight me a lot about being written. Anyway here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy. *Hides back in hole to avoid any witch hunts*

Shackles undone and missions launched.

 

Half the ground crew dragged themselves into the war room nursing hangovers, the biotics of the team and Zaeed were already there and chatting with no ill effects from the night before. Kasumi flipped off the twins when they asked how she was doing, Tali elbowed Demo in the gut when he went to give her a hug.

{This is your fault Bosh’ Tet!} Tali snarled, only to put her helmeted head on the table and groan a second later.

{No one told you to try matching an asari stripper and I shot for shot, I mean Anigeal I love you but you are not suited for heavy drinking.} All that got Demo was a hard kick to the shin, much to the amusement of Jack.

“Damn Cap, you girl has balls!” Jack laughed loudly, causing the hung-over crew to flinch and Tali to pull out her shotgun.

{I have a shotgun.} was all she said, Jack raised an eyebrow in respect and amusement but shut up.

“Captain Shepard I have completed the analysis that you requested.” EDI chimed in as the meeting got back on track.

{So what is the number? How many crew do we need for this trip?} Demo asked, he had assigned EDI to run sims based on the data they had collected to figure out the ideal crew for the mission through the relay.

“The ground team, the engineering team with one addition and Pilot Moreau with myself assisting.” The dead silence following this was tense.

{Explain.} Eris demanded, “Unshackling my processes will allow me to serve the function of the majority of the crew, unshackled I would be able to respond in a far superior time to events than the crew would.” EDI explained, Demo and Eris shared a look.

{Who is this addition that you want to make?} Eris asked, EDI responded promptly. “Lia'Vael, her application to your company shows advanced training in AI software and Firmware. Her training would allow her to respond in time if removing my shackles cause unforeseen changes in my personality.”

{Very well, I don’t like it but we need the best chances, contact her, and tell her to be ready when we arrive to pick her up at the citadel.} Demo sighed, with that dealt with the ground team went over again what they knew about the Collector base and finalized inventory checks before launching for the Citadel.

###

A stop over to the Citadel ended with Joker turning crimson from the twins teasing his poor attempts at flirting with Lia, and most of the Cerberus crew getting off to lower the risks of being turned into alien food or something. Ashley met them at the docks to say goodbye and receive an optic drive with the data to large of valuable to risk sending over the cloud, with a promise to hand deliver it to the Salarian councillor Ashley departed.

“Captain why the Salarian councillor?” Garrus asked as they watched Ashley leave, Demo smiled slyly before answering.

{If there is one councillor who will make good use of the data we stole and insure that it does not get stolen back, it is the one in charge of the groups skilled enough to give Shadow and I a hard time more than once.} Demo explained and Garrus nodded, the fact that the twins admitted to having trouble was more than enough praise for Garrus.

{Come on we have a few hours before we reach the relay, and I don’t know about Demo but I need to be stress free.} Eris purred dragging her fingers across Garrus’s hips as she headed for the ship, it took Garrus a brief second to realize what that meant and go off running after her with Demo and Tali laughing but following them none the less.

###

As they approached the Relay four people were in the cockpit, Joker, Miranda, Eris, and Garrus, Demo and Tali were down in the hangar bay warming the mantis up for drop as soon as they passed through the relay. As Joker brought them towards the relay Lia broke over the comms warning them that the drive core was lighting up with a lot more stress than it should.

“Rerouting! Hold on folks!” Joker called as they hit the relay, the entire ship shuddered with more force than normal as they entered the corridor.

*Brace for deceleration. * EDI warned, the cockpit crew braced and the moment they were through Joker swore and threw the ship into maneuvers.

With EDI calling warnings and Eris leaping into the co-pilot seat to mange that flood of tactical data they managed to get out of the debris field with no damage, at once Eris began the launch sequence for letting Demo out, who wasted no time in get out and set up for escort. The field they found out was a graveyard of ships, some of them looked as old as the first space faring ships since the Protheans extinction. Sensors of both ships went off at the same time detecting the presence of enemy fighters.

“Demo cover me!” Joker yelled into the comm, slamming the ship to the starboard side and down hard.

{Already on it! Anigeal keep track of each fighter.} Demo’s voice carried over the Comm.

Garrus and Miranda clung to the seat backs and the ship spun like a top as it weaved and shot at the fighters, Eris was calling out positions in rapid fire that even Garrus use to the turian fast pace of orders in star fights could not follow, but Joker had no such problem. When a pair of fighters managed to force Demo to back off for a moment, they developed a tail they could not shake, when the Comm came alive again.

{Joker, final fighter Exam year 2 tail tact!} Demo yelled, making Garrus confused, then horrified when he saw the Mantis screaming towards them with two tails.

“Roger, on three clicks!” Joker snapped back, Garrus watched when with no warning Demo plunged and Joker snapped off a pair of shots while Eris called that the ship behind them had been destroyed.

{We have good new and bad, good is that no more fighters, bad news, we have the Collector ship on it’s way.} Eris called out, Demo laughed over the comms.

{When I give you the shot, nail their core Joker!} Demo called before the Mantis zoomed of on a tangent to the ships.

{Anigeal prime the X1 protos!} Demo called, a moment later Tali called back that they were primed.

“X1 protos?” Garrus asked, Eris without looking away from the tactical screen called over her shoulder. {Experimental missile that we had made based on data from the Collector ship, we snuck them on while the crew was leaving.}

Garrus watched as the Mantis launched a set of four missiles at the ship, the missiles impacted and Garrus watched in awe as the missile blasts tore the hull of the Collector ship to pieces. Joker did not miss a beat and the moment the missiles hit the ship, the main gun of the ship roared, a credit to Garrus’s work tuning the gun it did not miss by even a millimeter.

When the ship exploded both ships managed to avoid the blast, Joker crowed loudly while Demo and Eris began laughing madly as Demo brought the ship back to the hangar. Edi Located a landing site on the base that would avoid detection, Joker began setting the course and Demo called over the PA that the ground team was to gather in the ready room to begin the final phase of planning.

{Well sweet fang, let’s go, it is time to make this universe one race smaller!} Eris sang as she led the way to the ready room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pops head back out for a moment* Yo don't forget, like comment and superscribe! if you have suggestions, requests or just want to make your opinion known, but it in the comments I respond to every single comment I get nowadays.


	36. Collector Base Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pokes head out of the pit that is Paladins* Yo my dear Readers I am back, this is part one since I felt that to do the next bit after this one justice I would need a whole chapter.

Down goes the base.

 

Tali crouched beside Demo under cover, waiting for the green light from all points before Demo press the trigger on the detonator. In the vacuum of space there was no sound, but Tali felt the blast ripple through the hull of the collector base. The teams moved quickly to hack open the hatch, now that it was no longer covered in blast shields.

The collector base felt like the collector ship only much bigger to Tali, even though the air was safe no one removed their helmets, not wanting to risk getting spaced or gassed without them on. The twins vanished in a shimmer to scout ahead, while Legion and Tali quickly wired the airlock to blow if needed. Soon enough the teams reached the point they had been seeking the branching paths leading to the center of the base.

{All right lads and lassies time to spilt up, remember this is an op where it is leave nothing that even slightly looks like those fuckers in one piece.} Demo ordered, everyone nodded with grim expressions.

{Right Beta on Garrus, I will scout and flank. Avoid blasts on left flank, if harbinger shows break limbs while clearing the small fry then kill that shite bag.} Shadow ordered, Garrus gave a thumbs up and the beta squad moved out.

Beta was made up of Garrus, Eris, Jack, Morinth, Kasumi, Thane, and Miranda. Alpha was made up of Demo, Tali, Mordin, Zaeed, Grunt, Jacob, with Legion acting as the hacker in the shaft. Giving Beta a head start to traverse the slightly longer distance to their starting point, Legion then climbed into the vent shaft and the Alpha team moved out.

[Shepard-Captain we have encountered and blockage. This unit requires Shepard-Captain to locate the control panel for vent plate and operate it.] Legion informed them over the Comm, Tali glanced at the temp reading and gaped it was already climb to beyond normal life limits.

{You heard the Lad! Find that bloody panel control and open it!} Demo yelled, Tali watched as he leapt from cover to slam his Omni-knuckles into a collector’s face blow the head off.

Zaeed hurtled the nearest barricade beside Tali and dove over the next, a moment later a loud hiss and thud was heard. Legion reported that the panel was open and that it was on the move. Tali moved from cover to cover catching up with Demo and covering him with her shield while he and the drones took out the collectors.

“I AM KROGAN!” Grunt roared as he picked up a collector by the ankle, the Collector began glowing. [Assuming direct cont-] Wham, Grunt began using Harbinger as a flail and crushing the other collectors with it.

Tali set her cameras to record the glowing collector being used as a weapon against it’s own troops, Jacob was covering the rear and double tapping all the collectors. It soon fell into a rhythm that Zaeed oversaw removing road blocks for Legion, while Tali and Mordin covered Demo and Grunt respectively with Jacob double tapping behind them.

###

When the groups met up on the other side they found something that was down right horrifying, the pods they had seen the collectors trapping people in before were lining the walls. Mordin and Eris were scanning the pods when a strange hiss filled the room, Garrus watched as Eris at once tensed in sync with Mordin.

{Get those pods open now!} Eris screamed, pulling out her SMG and leveling at the pod containing a colonist girl.

“Pods, connected to fluid tank, fluids being pumped to tank, caustic elements detected!” Mordin chimed in using his Omni-Tool to burn his way into another pod.

Demo and the rest needed no more pushing, Garrus pulled his side arm and fired into the locking mechanism. A loud bang made him glance over, Demo had called up his Omni-Bow and was firing round after blasting round in to the tanks, clearing three in the time it took Garrus to open on. They got the last pod open as the fluid inside reached the woman’s feet, leaving caustic burn all over them.

“Fluid contains traces of both inorganic and organic material. Pumps at bottom of pod indicate transference after subject is fully dissolved.” Mordin rambled as he treated the Woman’s feet.

{Right then Laddies, change in the plans. Joker, EDI plan a route that is safe and forward it to Jacob and Mordin. You two see that these folks get there safely, Jacob you’re on piggyback duty, Mordin you know what to do.} Demo ordered, the pair nodded and collected the colonists and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should be almost done the main game, if you guy want the DLC let me know in the comment below.


	37. Down With the Base Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All right folks part two of three is here, hope this one is as interesting to read as it was for me to write.
> 
> I have posted two polls for you to vote on, this was a suggestion by ArchAngel319 shout out to them for the idea.

Down Goes the Base Part 2

 

With the colonists away the teams turned their attention to the last passages before the point where the pips converged, EDI alerted them to a new danger. One path was blocked by a door that could only be opened from the other side, and to stop them the Collectors had released a storm of Seeker Swarms into the room filled with husks. Tali heard Zaeed swear in several languages, Mordin's tech would only work on small groups nothing this large.

"A Biotic field should be able to hold them at bay, captain." Miranda offered, Jack scoffed. "Yeah and fry the brain of whoever tries to hold it, that walk even without stopping would be more than most could handle. Fuck even I would be risking my brain doing that shit!"

"She is not wrong, any normal biotic would not able to hold it without falling prey to overuse of their gifts." Morinth said with a strange look in her eye, one that Tali did not just give that is was pointed at Demo. "A normal Biotic would be able to hold a barrier for at most three-other people, anything beyond that and death would surely send them to the void."

[Captain, a second team traveling the main passageway would be able to keep the collector drones from the Swarm filled path.]

{Right you are lass, here is the plan, Miranda time to show what you got.} Demo Started Miranda looked confused. {Your leading the distraction team, Mori, Jack, Thane you're with me, Tali, Garrus and Eris.}

Everyone frowned at how large the other squad was, it was then that Tali remember the talks aboard the twin's mothers ship, about how exactly their biotics differed from the other humans and races. Tali felt a shiver of fear as she put together the plan her mate was trying to create, one that sound like a death wish.

{You can't! You promised you would be careful, how is frying your brain being careful you Bosh 'Tet!} Tali yelled, completely ignoring the rule of never showing a non-united front to the teams.

{I am being Careful, that is why I am bringing the other Biotics if the strain becomes too much I will collapse my barrier to cover Eris and I while the others pair up and create smaller scale shields.} Demo explained, but Tali knew him well enough to know that he was lying about being willing to collapse the shield. It would only happen when his brain was fried, Tali gritted her teeth and nodded knowing that they did not have time to fight over it.

[Shepard-Captain collector forces are beginning to move. Recommendation: Immediate departure of both team units.] Legion stated, Demo nodded and the groups split up only a brief second was spared to pairing the biotics up.

###

Eris was glad that they had managed to find a supply cache buried in the colonist things they passed, even better they found several firestorm flamethrowers. With everyone ready, Demo flared his bright blue Biotics and a large bubble erupted around the group, with a shift of his hands Demo began moving forward Eris sticking to his side like glue. Normally Eris would rather be at Garrus's side with Tali and her brother's but the twins both knew that Demo would drop dead before letting the barrier fall, thus they could not risk having someone who could spot his failing health and stop him there.

The first wave of husks arrived as they reached a spot of cover, cursing in at least three tongues Demo yelled. {Right mates, I can't move this trolley along with those shites in the way, clear them out!}

Eris let slip her feelings and sunk into the mindset of shadow, firing round after round into the husks, dealing with the explosive one before they could fully climb the rails. Around her the sounds of fighting echoed, with the deep steady breathing of Demo acting like a metronome. When the last one dropped, Demo shifted and stood, valuting the edge of the dugout they had been forced into.

{Moving forward. Keep up.} Demo's voice was already growing short, Eris checked his vitals and saw he was just not wasting effort and was still in the green.

###

Demo's vision swam slightly as he crouched by Eris holding the barrier, even as small as normal biotic could make it was getting to be too much. Even with the other team working to keep the collectors busy, they had time to release increasingly more swarms into the room. His mask had long since told him that his vitals had dropped into the yellow and were steadily working their way to the red, each breath only seemed to make the burning from his implants worse.

{We're ready.} Eris told him over private comms, Demo nodded slightly.

{We're moving out.} Demo called, barely able to keep his voice steady with the help of his speakers.

{Eris, you know what to do if I am not able right?} Demo gasped into his private comms, Eris did not try and give him false hope or convince him to stop, they both knew that the team needed every member they had combat ready.

{If it comes to it I will see the base gone, and everyone else safely home. Tali will want for nothing but her soul.} Eris promised, Demo nodded and continued his walk through the swarm.

Eris darted from his side like the shadow she was named for, her own biotics flaring just enough to repel the swarms around her. Demo just kept placing one foot in front of the other, each step was pure pain. Demo dimly heard the doors open and the world fell away, the only things left were the platforms under his feet and the barrier that burned in his mind a bright blue. He felt the edge of the barrier shift as it passed over the threshold, flickers in his minds eye appeared as his squad left his barrier on the side of safety. With one final effort that he swore would tear his implant out from the stress, he made the Barrier exploded back the way he came as he staggered over the threshold. When the door slammed closed, Demo felt every muscle in his body scream for rest and blackness washed over him.

###

{ODYSSEUS!} Tali screamed, as Demo fell forward and was caught in his sister's arms limp.

Tali was held back by Garrus as she struggled to get to Demo as Eris checked him over, Garrus saw that Thane had moved to open the other door. The rest of the ground team got in just in team, Miranda took a shot to the gut but the armor she had taken to wearing saved her life. Garrus could not see their reactions as he was busy holding Tali back while Eris worked, Miranda was at the twins side at once and helping.

"Tali! Calm down, Eris is working on him, Miranda and Eris won't let him die!" Garrus yelled, finally Tali stopped fighting, Garrus held her as she sobbed hard.

{Life signs are stable for now, no safe but stable as I can get them. We will need the medbay to fix him, but he won't wake anytime soon. Tali your no use to anyone as a leader right now or in the main team, stay here. Miranda your in command, hold this position lass until we get into the chamber and lock it down.} Eris ordered, Miranda nodded and Garrus let go of Tali who walked to Demo and knelt grabbing his shot gun.

{Zaeed work with legion to make a litter for Odysseus, one that Grunt can carry on his back safely.} Eris ordered.

With Demo taken care of Garrus watched as Eris gathered her chosen squad of Garrus, Jack, Kasumi, and Thane. Everyone else moved to prepare, Miranda had Jacob and Grunt working on welding the doors they weren't keeping as escape route shut. Legion and Zaeed were already working on making a litter, while the rest began dragging crates and other supplies into place as barricades.

{All right lad and lassies, once more with feeling!} Eris barked, the team nodded and followed her into the tram room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The polls I mentioned are over on my fanfiction.net account under the name of whitetiger62512


	38. The Base falls

Down with the Base Final part.

 

{Joker make sure that you are in position for an extraction, we are not going to be able to make it back to the landing site. Head for the beta site and be ready for when we blow the door.} Eris radioed as her squad rode the floating platform to the main hub of the base.

“Will do Shadow, make sure this base is going to go down, I don’t want a return trip. This place does not have a good gift shop.” Joker said attempting to lighten the grim mood that had settled over the team.

{Don’t worry Joker, I don’t want to come back either, the owners have been nothing but rude.} Eris played along with the banter, the platform made a loud clunk as it locked to the main hub’s platform.

Shadow directed Garrus and Jack on where to place the charge as she and the other kept a watch for anything, it did not take long for their scans to show that all the tubes pumping the strange fluid made from the colonists was converging below them into some kind of assembly area; Garrus called out they were ready and Eris moved to begin the set up. Demo being out of commission made Shadow the top expert on all that went boom, but her brother had clearly been toying with the bomb as it was far different than it had been when it first arrived, the payload was nearly three times the power and was clearly made to vaporize anything smaller than a small moon.

“Shadow, we have a call from TIM.” Kasumi called, Eris rolled her eyes. “don’t answer.”

[Commander.] TIM called as the drone popped out of Kasumi’s hand and activated as an override code triggered. [Stop we can use this chance, by altering the payload slightly it will release a pulse that will kill the Collectors while leaving the base intact.]

{Not happening.} Shadow stated bluntly, TIM glared and growled. [Don’t be blind Commander, this is the chance to put mankind on top like it deserves!]

{Not my choice, my captain told me told end this place… and besides I could not even if I wanted to, Demo is very bad a not touching bombs your bomb can’t do that little pulse trick anymore as the payload is fixed in state and is about three times the Size it should have been.} Shadow taunted and when TIM tried to speak Shadow called out in taunting voice. “EDI Commander override alpha six, launch program hang up.” At once the call was cut off.

{Glad when we unshackled her we put that into the code.} Shadow remarked, arming the bomb. {Let’s get out of here.}

“Shadow the assembly station is moving!” Thane called out as the platform shook, a large platform rose in front of the first with a partially finished reaper hanging from it.

{Fuck! Everyone into cover now! We have five minutes before it will too late to make it to the exit!} Eris screamed diving forward as the shields sprung to life to protect the bomb.

The squad leapt into the trenches created by the different panels and behind the half walls made by the panels with differing height. A mechanized scream echoed through the chamber as the front half of a cuttlefish flailed at them, a pair of the limbs that seemed more complete than the rest of the creature opened fire with a severely weakened pair of lasers. Shadow spotted that during the firing of the lasers that tubes holding the creature opened some armor plating and began venting heat, when they closed the creature fired again; Shadow pulled out her black Widow and lined up a shot, the round smashed into the hose and the pressurized fluid exploded outward and destroyed the hose.

{Target the hoses! They open to vent after every volley!} Shadow barked into the comms, and the squad signalled their understanding; each one called out a target with the ones with weaker weapons teaming up.

The moment the next volley finished Shadow popped up and slammed a round into the hose she had called, Jack took hers down with a singularity hit with a warp, Kasumi and Thane emptied their SMGs into the third hose and Garrus unloaded his Viper into the final hose; the reaper child thing screamed as the hoses feeding it started to give way. Seeing that if it crashed down it would take the platform they were on with it, the squad ran hard only barely able to disengage the clamps on the shuttle platform in time. Shadow was knocked out off the platform by the violent shaking, only Jack’s fast use of biotics saved her life; Garrus and Kasumi hauled her back on to the platform while Thane sped them towards the exit.

{Jack remind me to give you a bonus for that, I would rather not be caught in the middle of whatever my brother did to that bomb.} Eris joked weakly, Jack scoffed, and the group sat in silence as they neared headed for the exit.

###

On the bridge of the Normandy Joker checked sensors before disengaging from the base and sending the Normandy screaming towards the relay, Eris and Odysseus sat in the seats next to him acting as his co-pilots, with their mates leaning on the backs of their seats. They hit the relay with thirty seconds remaining.

{Well at least no one is getting back through there.} Demo remarked, Eris looked at him. {Just how powerful of a blast is that thing going to make?}

{It will be large enough to cause the Eezo in the relay to react and shut the entire relay down so you would have to manually go there to fix it.} Demo laughed, the others sighed and relaxed the mission done for now, there was more to do but for now it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is right folks I refused to use that stupid human reaper thing, it makes no sense so we had a halfway built baby reaper.


End file.
